The Elephant Z p 



south of Berbera, between that port and the Golis range, 35 miles inland ; 

 also on Wagar Mountain, south-east of Berbera ; and their tracks could 

 sometimes be seen on the seashore itself near Doghonkal, between Bulbar 

 and Zeyla. They were found near Hargeisa, and came down the Issutugan 

 River to within two days' march of the Port of Bulhar, as the cold of 

 the high interior sent them down the sand rivers at the time when the 

 armo creepers and aloes, of which they are inordinately fond, were in 

 season. Elephants were also numerous in the Gadabursi country. The 

 elephants, driven continually south and east by sporting parties fitting out 

 at Berbera, and south-west by those fitting out at Zeyla, have retired from 

 all the above places, except a few herds which may still linger in the 

 Gadabursi country, a district now reserved by the authorities at Aden for 

 the sport of officers who may be stationed there. 



There is practically no elephant shooting to be got in Somaliland north 

 of the Hand waterless plateau, or in the Hand, at the present time. In the 

 south-eastern Haud and in the coast country east of Berbera there never 

 were any elephants. 



In the chaos of rugged gorges which descend from the highlands of 

 Abyssinia to Ogaden, in the country about the head-waters of the Webbi 

 Shabeyleh and Juba rivers, there are still plenty of elephants ; but they 

 are in the Abyssinian sphere of influence, mostly in country actually raided 

 annually by the Abyssinians. A few herds, it is believed, wander down 

 those river valleys to the Marehan country, far to the south-east of Berbera, 

 only reached by crossing the broadest part of the Haud, and only, it is 

 believed, penetrated by one European explorer in 1890 ; and that visit 

 being undertaken at the wrong season for elephants, only old tracks were 

 seen. 



The chief cause of the elephants having been driven away to such an 

 extent was that many sportsmen were not satisfied with the shooting of a 

 bull or two here and there, but slaughtered cows and young elephants 



