232 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



laden with treasure. They brought the rhino's feet, 

 his tail, his head, and some of his skin. There was no 

 reason why they should not have brought it all. It 

 comes off quite easily. They said they had not time, 

 as they feared being bushed, or that lions would be 

 attracted to the spot by the smell of blood. The skin 

 is very valuable to the Somalis for shields, and many 

 other purposes, and we rather thought it was a put up 

 business to secure half the rhino hide for themselves. 

 We thought of going back then and there and seeing 

 the thing finished, but Clarence said it was such a 

 long way off, the result would be we would all assuredly 

 be caught out in the bush at night. I suppose he 

 was right. They had us fairly. 



The Somalis don't care for eating rhino, and I cannot 

 say the flesh looks very inviting, but we got the chef 

 to make us some soup of the tail, which you hear so 

 well spoken of by all travellers. I do not think our 

 opinion can be considered a fair one. It would have 

 been a better soup had we made it ourselves. Our 

 cook could not cook anything properly, and the tail 

 and taste of it, if there had been either in the pan at 

 any time, was drowned in a waste of water. 



Before the great pachyderm began to be dismem- 

 bered we measured him, and his waist, or where his 

 waist should be if he had one, was by the tape, seven 

 feet three inches. I don't know what a fashionable 

 belle rhinoceros would think of that. In length he 

 was a shade over ten feet, but this was not a very 

 large animal as they go. We set to work helping to 

 stretch and clean and saltpetre. The anterior horn 



