286 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



honour and glory, though the dollars would not have 

 been so plentiful as in his present enterprise. He says 

 that the Abyssinians are afraid of the elephants, and 

 won't hunt them alone. If they find, however, a herd 

 with some young ones they will give them chase, and 

 catching up with the small fry think themselves very 

 clever if they hamstring one. According to their 

 calculations, a man who kills an elephant, without any 

 limit being made as to size, is equal to twenty men, 

 whilst he who kills a lion is only equal to five men ; 

 and there is a rule among the married women never to 

 wear their bracelets, ear or nose rings, until their 

 husbands have killed an elephant. Here, as along the 

 rest of the river, it is hopeless to look for antelope, 

 for the country has been so disturbed by huge droves 

 of cattle ; and Vivian will soon find it a difficult matter 

 to get even an ariel or gazelle for the larder. I tried 

 one shot to-day, and do not intend to repeat the 

 performance for the present, as it caused such painfu 

 vibration in my head. News has been brought this 

 evening that an Arab fired at a lion the other day near 

 the Hamran village, and hit it in the shoulder, and 

 that the animal instantly turned upon him and with 

 one blow with his paw on the back of the neck struck 

 him down dead. Perhaps this will be a useful warning 

 to the rising Hamran generation not to attempt lion 

 shooting with single-barrel rifles, or they will find to 



