CHAPTER XXII 



An uninviting country — Gazelles occasionally met with — Early morning 

 marches — The dik-dik antelope — Large herds seen — The klipspringer 

 — Terrific heat— The Nasiya or Shelter tree— Reach the first water — 

 Lion-hand mountain — The lesser koodoo^ — Their appearance and habits 

 — Extraordinary leaping powers — Shoot a fine buck — Ascending the 

 Golis Range— Haunt of the greater koodoo — News of an old bull — A 

 fruitless search — Returning to camp — A pleasant surprise — Sudden 

 appearance of the bull — A long shot — Bagged — A splendid trophy — 

 The greater koodoo described — We march en route to Hargesa — Wild 

 wooded country — Oryx and hartebeest encountered — Shooting for the 

 pot — Many mouths to feed — The oryx, appearance and habits — A 

 herd of four hundred seen — Wounded oryx dangerous — Bushmen's 

 method of killing these animals — Poisoned arrows and dogs — Uses 

 made of the skins — The hartebeest — Several species — Fine texture of 

 coats — Peculiarity of the skull — Vast herds often met with — The 

 inquisitiveness of these animals — Indifference to thirst — The som- 

 mering gazelle — ^Very common in Somahland — A herd of one thousand 

 — Peculiar characteristic — ^Variety in shape of horns — Subject to 

 parasitical maggots — Flesh uneatable. 



The country over which we travelled was not inviting, 

 consisting as it did of bare hills and sandy plains covered 

 with stunted mimosa bushes, affording shelter to an 

 occasional gazelle, a number of which I shot on the way. 



This peculiar gazelle is readily distinguished by the 

 well-developed ridge of loose skin over the nose. The 

 general colour is a brownish fawn, with a dark lateral band. 

 The coat is also longer and the horns thicker and more 

 curved than those of the lowland gazelle. The height at 

 the shoulder is twenty-four inches. The females have no 

 horns. 



They go about in small herds of three to five, and are 

 found in scrub, jungle and rocky ground. In their habits 

 they are very much like the Indian gazelle or chinkara, and 

 offer excellent practice for the rifle. 

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