1 84 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



that no mischief ever comes from the poison being 

 sucked into the system via the mouth. Not even the 

 virulent poison of the rattler harms this way. When 

 I got into camp I soaked my finger in ammonia, and 

 so got off excellently well. 



I bestrode my weary steed again, asking no more of 

 it than a slow walk, and followed on the traces of 

 Clarence and the aoul. I shouted after a while, and 

 he replied. I came on him shortly, sitting by the dead 

 aoul, resting between moments of butchery. I hadn't 

 heard a shot, but I must have been too dazed. W T e 

 were a long way from camp, and the difficulty con- 

 fronted us of packing so large a buck back. We could 

 only do it conveniently, as I did not want to walk, 

 minus the head and feet. The horns were good, but 

 the head as a trophy was ruined by the way its neck 

 was cut. The system of " hallal " doesn't seem to allow 

 of ordinary throat-cutting, far down, where the gash 

 does not show. The gash must run from ear to ear, 

 consequently it ruins a trophy for setting up purposes. 

 Laden, we hied us back to what Nathaniel Gubbins 

 would call " the home-sweet," and were welcomed with 

 glowing fires, on which the aoul, in parts, was immedi- 

 ately frizzling. The men gorged incontinently, as 

 Cecily came in shortly after us with an oryx. These 

 two beasts broke the run of bad luck, and afterwards, 

 for a few days, we could not miss a shot. Our bullets 

 seemed charmed. So did the men. They ate semi- 

 raw meat in such large quantities I wondered they 

 didn't get mange and lose their hair. There is no 

 satisfying a Somali with meat. He cannot have suffi- 



