TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



throat extends a long beard, or fringe, of silvery grey hair, 

 giving the animal a most imposing appearance. The neck 

 is also slightly maned. The legs are slender, but strong and 

 well-shaped. 



The horns are massive and spiral, and of a corkscrew-like 

 formation, terminating in sharp points. They have been 

 known to exceed sixty inches round the curve. The 

 largest pair secured by me measured fifty inches outside 

 the curve thirty-eight and a half in a straight line ten 

 inches circumference, and thirty-six and a half inches 

 between the tips. The females have no horns. 



Koodoos frequent the mountains and rocky, bush- 

 covered hills. They keep together in small herds of six 

 to eight. Solitary old bulls may occasionally be met, as 

 was the case in the instance just quoted. 



Although a heavy animal, the koodoo is a good climber, 

 and his sense of hearing being, as I have said, so acute 

 he is very difficult to approach. As far as I am aware no 

 live specimen of this animal has yet reached the Zoological 

 Gardens. 



After a few days' rest we marched to Hargesa, my 

 intention being to push on as fast as possible to the Harawa 

 Valley, some two hundred miles distant, where I intended 

 to form a permanent camp for the purpose of hunting 

 elephants. Hargesa is situated on two important caravan 

 routes, one from Ogadin and the other from Berbera. It 

 is full of blind and lame people under the protection of one 

 Sheik Muttar and his Mullahs. 



We now found ourselves in a well-wooded country 

 amongst rocky hills and mimosa bush, interposed with 

 extensive grassy plains where large herds of oryx, harte- 

 beest and sommering gazelles were constantly to be seen, 

 and would often stand gazing with extraordinary inquisi- 

 tiveness at our long string of camels. 



I shot a large number of these animals as, my caravan 

 being a large one, I had many mouths to feed. As a 

 description of these antelopes may be of interest to the 

 reader, I will describe them briefly in the order named. 



The oryx, to take the first, is widely distributed over 

 Somaliland. The clown-like markings of this animal are 

 too well known to need description. The height of the 

 172 



