TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 89 



evidently badly wanted answered. One was to know 

 if these trophies had some great intrinsic value there 

 that so many people come at such trouble and danger 

 to themselves to get them ? He evidently was much 

 puzzled. 



At last the dawn came, and at the first hint of it we 

 prepared to move. The scene was of rare beauty. In 

 the dense undergrowth that hid the trees to the height 

 of several feet was a wonder world of mystery. 

 Webs of Arachne's weaving made bars of silver 

 gossamer from bush to bough. 'Twas like a scene 

 from Shakespeare's woodlands. The same thrill and 

 marvel, joy, happiness and pain. For life is not all 

 a song. Fierce burning strife comes oft to mar the 

 stillness, death, too, in crudest form. In the jungle 

 all is one long struggle for survival ; no excuses are 

 made, none wanted, they kill to live, just as we 

 human things kill each other every day ; only in 

 civilisation it is done more delicately. 



First we investigated the place of the eyes, and there, 

 sure enough, was a blood trail. We followed but a few 

 yards to find a large striped hyaena — a magnificent 

 beast, yellow gray, with black stripes on his shoulders, 

 and beautiful mane and bushy gray tail. He measured 

 from nose to tail four feet eight inches. We skinned 

 and decapitated him, a long and horrid business, and 

 then took up our none too pleasant loads and departed. 

 We passed the remains of the dead oryx, but there 

 was little left of him. The hyaenas had been feast- 

 ing all the night, and now the vultures were picking 

 his bones. It was still darkish as we took our way 



