202 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



Interested, we watched the two cats cantering off, 

 shoulder to shoulder, far out into the open country 

 beyond our ken. Our men whispered among them- 

 selves. We were out with the second hunter, as 

 Clarence was occupied in camp. They were puzzled 

 evidently. As a result of a long course of noticing 

 that to many white shikaris a lion is a lion, and has no 

 sex or age, it seemed to the native mind a remarkably 

 odd circumstance that we made no effort at all to bag 

 two specimens at one fell swoop. I never had any 

 scruples about killing hyaenas. They are not to be 

 classed as among the more valuable fauna, being so 

 numerous and productive, and such low-down sneaking 

 creatures, doing such harm among the herds and 

 karias, carrying off the children so frequently, and 

 always maltreating the face, as if with some evil 

 design, voraciously tearing it before it commences on 

 any other part. 



We entered a little forest of khansa and adad, 

 sombre and dark. But in the great tunnellings it 

 was possible to see ahead for a fair distance. We were 

 just examining a bit of gum-arabic with faint tracery 

 on it when a hunter pulled my sleeve. There, a great 

 way off, going with the wind, moving with a rolling 

 gait, was a lion ; head carried low as is their wont, and 

 going along at a smart pace. Signing to the syce to 

 stand there with the ponies, Cecily and I rushed down 

 the path the lion had taken. But we never sighted 

 him again. The jungle grew thicker, and it was 

 getting late, so we were forced to abandon the stalk, 

 returning to our distant camp after a blank day. 



