86 Three Months' Leave in Somali Land. 



hog standing facing me eighty yards. Hit dead 

 centre between the eyes, killed him dead. In the 

 afternoon had a shot fired from standing position 

 at a gazelle, 170 yards. Hit him just in front of 

 shoulder, passing out of other shoulder, dropped, 

 a very good shot (or a fluke) for so small a mark. 

 Had a shot at an aoul, 130 yards, knew it was a 

 doe, but I wanted a head skin for one of the bucks. 

 I shot, hit through spine far back, dropped. Very 

 old doe, with a very good head and skin ; alto- 

 gether the shooting to-day was much beyond my 

 average, but the 303 is not powerful enough un- 

 less you can get so close as to put your bullet 

 exactly right. Heads, aoul bucks 18 in. and 15^ 

 in. ; does 15 in. and 13J in. ; gazelle 12^ in. 

 Saved a life to make up for this slaughter. 

 Found a little boy dying of hunger and thirst 

 on the Haud. Gave him water, had him brought 

 on a camel and gave him some strong aoul soup 

 with cornflour in it. This revived the little 

 skeleton enough to let him talk. His name is 

 Ismail, and he comes from the Abasgul Ogaden. 

 Abyssinians killed his father, his mother died and 

 he has been wandering round, following gafilas 

 since. Says he does not know how long he has 



