Vill JOURNEY TO WEBBE SHABELEH RIVER 219 
Allowing my men to skin the lion, which was a fine one, 
I retired to the shade of a spreading ‘hansa, and opening a 
haversack brought on the camel, made a hearty lunch of beisa- 
meat and water. We then put the skull and lion-skin on the 
camel, and after another hour or two, following the tracks of 
the caravan, found the camp pitched and my tent ready. The 
skin of the lion when pegged out in camp measured nine feet 
six inches. He was an old fellow, with a good deal of gray in 
his mane. 
We left Géli and Hassan to rest under the trees and watch 
the skin of the lion, which we had stretched to dry in the hot 
sun for two hours; telling them towards sunset to pick up the 
skin and bring it on to the evening camp, we went on to Délababa. 
We made three more marches through an extensive forest of 
khansa called Dud Libah, or the “Lion’s Forest,” and in this 
I knocked over a buck lesser koodoo. 
On the 15th we again came among natives, at a place called 
Talla. There were five karias here, and the people, who were 
Rer Amaden, welcomed us warmly. I sat up for a lion in a 
zeriba, but without success. The people said that lions were 
eating men daily to the north, at the Malingur karias a few 
marches ahead. Passing through my old camp at Segag, I 
made a short trip into the Daghatto Valley, but bagged nothing 
at first, although there were many lion-tracks about. While 
hunting along ‘the river on the evening of the 18th, I shot a 
beautiful lesser koodoo buck; and returning towards sunset, 
when nearing camp we detected a lioness in the grass, but she 
saw us first, and a hurried shot missed her as she bounded away. 
She had been stalking my camels which were scattered round 
camp feeding before being driven in for the night. 
Four marches more, during which we experienced heavy 
thunderstorms, brought us to Durhi, the place where, on coming 
from Berbera, we had found the Malingur burying a woman 
who had been killed by a lion. The two large karias between 
which we had formerly camped were deserted. J made a 
zeriba outside camp, and sat up unsuccessfully for lions in it 
on the night of 19th May. My men made a great noise, sing- 
ing in chorus to attract lions; and Daura Warsama, one of my 
best men, led the singing, sometimes running out into the dark 
night and calling, “ Lebaha kdli, kaleiya, Sirkdl-ki wa dénevya /” 
(O lion, come ; the Sahib wants you!). Daura was a fine fellow, 
whom I had engaged at Bulhar, belonging to the Jibril Abokr 
