GAME 



named from such a trivial occurrence. For, after all, 

 similar events are by no means uncommon in these 

 unsettled parts, where lions are a constant menace 

 to the Somali and their stock. 



Small herds of game were grazing on the coarse 

 grass that covered the plains ; a few gerenuk galloped 

 away at our approach, their long necks stretched out 

 in a futile attempt to avoid observation as they made 

 their way through the scattered scrub. A small band 

 of what I took to be Peter's gazelle, and a solitary 

 oryx beisa with a single horn gazed for a moment at 

 the oncoming caravan, and then they too fled away 

 and were soon lost to sight in the bush. They were 

 astonishingly shy, but I was still close to the coast, 

 and I learned later that the Herti Somali were fond of 

 hunting. Not long after we were joined by a wild 

 hunter from that tribe. He was neither an interesting 

 nor a picturesque figure ; I merely mention him 

 because of the very curious wooden pillow he carried, 

 of which I shall have more to say in a subsequent 

 chapter ; his round war shield, made of giraffe hide, 

 also attracted my attention, for it was deeply scarred 

 in many places in an unusual way. He told me that 

 the shield had once been his brother's ; but the latter 

 had been killed one day by a lion while out hunting, 

 and the scars I had noticed had been caused by the 

 lion's claws in the struggle that took place before his 

 brother's death. I was able to persuade him to let 

 me have the shield, and it bears eloquent testimony 

 to the desperate struggle that had been fought between 

 those strange antagonists. 



Towards noon we passed through another narrow 

 belt of bush, but emerged again shortly into Dibayu 

 Plain. Grass was more abundant here, showing that 



52 



