MY SOMALI BOOK 249 



the position ; with the result that I was in no case 

 called upon to follow up a wounded but not disabled 

 lion, or to meet a charge. The one animal which I 

 wounded mortally, but which might then have charged 

 — did make a momentary show of doing so — was not 

 fully grown and not likely to have the determination 

 of an adult. It would be egregious folly to conclude 

 from these few experiences that things would always 

 be so simple. But these are just the sort of cases 

 from which some men are prone to generalise and fall 

 into error. 



To return to the shikari who led up to this warning, 

 it will be seen that it is as important that he should be 

 a man to be depended on at an awkward moment, 

 as that he should be a good tracker, and this you can 

 only feel sure of in a man who has made a reputation. 

 Somalis, as a race, are not lacking in courage, but they 

 are not all alike, and in some cases prove failures from 

 sheer excitability. Wherefore, engage the best man 

 available, treat him well, but don't spoil him. 



If any reader wishes for further information as to 

 requirements of an expedition in Somaliland, or on 

 the country generally, its people, or its game, especially 

 if he contemplates a trip himself, I recommend him to 

 study Colonel H. G. Swayne's Seventeen Trips in 

 Somaliland, a book which, though a little out of date 

 on one or two points, deservedly remains the standard 

 work on the subject. 



Whether a shooting expedition in Somaliland will 

 be permitted at any given moment can only be ascer- 

 tained from the authorities at Berbera. Since the 

 withdrawal of all British posts from the Interior, and 



