148 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



monster we were tackling was no exception to the 

 rule, and manufactured the enemy on the " whilst 

 you wait " principle. 



It now became a matter for our deep consideration 

 as to how far our trip should extend. 



We had known before we started that Somaliland is 

 no longer the old time sportsman's paradise. The 

 shikar obtainable is not what it was, and every year 

 lessens the chances. The truth is the country is fairly 

 shot out. 



Fifteen years ago the most excellent shooting was 

 to be had all over ; now, unless one penetrates right 

 into the interior where a certain amount of danger 

 from warlike tribes must be looked for, there is not 

 much hope of a truly great and representative bag. 

 The reserving of the Hargeisa and Mirso as entirely 

 protected regions has also necessarily restricted the 

 game area. The day of the sportsman in all Africa was 

 in that Golden Age when he, all untrammelled, might 

 stalk the more important fauna, to say nothing of the 

 lesser, as he listed. Now he pays heavy toll, varying 

 with the scarcity of the quarry, and the licences are 

 not the least part of the expenses. Of course the 

 needful preservation of big game should, and inevi- 

 tably must, lead to good results, since to husband the 

 resources of anything is to accumulate in the long run. 

 But the idea of artificial preservation and legislation 

 seems to knock some of the elemental romance out of 

 hunting. Anything cut and dried seems out of place 

 in sport of big game variety, and brings it down to 

 the nearer level of shooting pheasants that know you 



