THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIEE 63 



either side of the track. Waggar Mountain and the hill tract west 

 of the Sheikh Eoad, as also the Gadabursi and Jibril Aboker country, 

 have been left open for the shooting of kudu. 



' The centre of the hill reserve is Armali, 30 miles due south 

 of Berbera, where there is a Government Experimental Garden, 

 and where the Commissioner forms his camp for a part of the 

 year. The supervision of this reserve, some 120 miles in area, 

 has been carried out without difficulty, and the reserve, which is 

 generally densely wooded with cedar and box trees, contains 

 numerous kudu and klipspringers. These animals never leave 

 their own particular hills or valleys. Wart-hogs are found at the 

 foot of the hills, and partridges are numerous. Panthers often 

 kill men and animals, but are periodically destroyed by Europeans 

 and natives. Lions now and then traverse the reserve, but seldom 

 stay long, apparently preferring the flatter and more open country. 



* The reserve is a favourite grazing ground for cattle. Being 

 on a ledge some 4,500 to 5,000 feet high, under the edge of the pre- 

 cipitous Golis Eange, it obtains an abundant rainfall during both 

 the rainy seasons, and grazing may consequently be found here 

 when the country to the north and south is parched. The natives 

 for this reason call this tract " Mirso," the haven. 



' As the armed tribes are forbidden to bring their rifles back 

 from the grazing grounds, there need be no danger on their account 

 in the case of the " hill reserve." 



* In the west the tribes have received few rifles, as they are 

 more remote from the Dervishes, and I have arranged with Eas- 

 Makonen that the numbers of rifles on both sides of the border 

 shall, if possible, be kept within strict limits. For this reason we 

 may hope that, with the expenditure of a certain amount of money 

 on personnel, we may still be able to preserve what is left of the 

 once numerous herds of oryx and hartebeeste, in spite of Abyssinian 

 trespasses across the extreme western border. 



' Troops were during the recent expedition quartered at Har- 

 geisa, but they have been withdrawn, and unless the Mullah moves 

 westward to Heradigit again it is unlikely that we shall be obliged 

 to again occupy Hargeisa. But it is essential that the Hargeisa 

 Eeserve, which at present is some 1,500 miles in area, be extended 

 so as to include the prairies, which are the proper home of the 

 larger antelopes. 



' I propose to extend the limits of the Hargeisa Eeserve up to 

 the Abyssinian border on the extreme west, so as to include a por- 

 tion of the Ban-ki-Wajalyer prairie, and I would also extend the 

 limits towards the south down to the ninth north parallel of lati- 

 tude, taking in the Tuyo and Arori Plains. 



* The boundaries of this reserve would then run as follows : — 

 Beginning at Lafarug in the north-east corner, it would go west- 

 ward along the tenth parallel to its intersection with the forty- 

 third east meridian at Sau, on the Abyssinian frontier, thence to 



