CALAHM ON THE OCCASION. 181 



at least four times the range of my short carbine. 

 To circumvent him by some means or other, how- 

 ever, was our determination, so Ohmed Medina 

 directed us all to squat down on our heels, as in the 

 usual manner for a calahm, I having intimated to 

 him, the impossibility of my killing the beast so far 

 off, by shaking my head, and pointing to the length 

 of my gun, and then to the great distance inter- 

 vening. By good fortune, the hyaena seemed as 

 determined as ourselves, to see the affair properly 

 over, and kept his eyes fixed upon us all the time, 

 as if we had been sitting in the direction he wished 

 to go, and was waiting for us to retire. 



After a few words amongst ourselves, Himyah 

 got out of the little circle, and first moving off 

 towards the camp, until well out of sight of the 

 hyaena, he made a sudden turn to the right, 

 and stealing among the detached portions of 

 rock, which abounded along the edges of the plain, 

 he, in a short time, made his appearance again 

 far in the rear of the animal, who was still sitting, 

 like ourselves, on its haunches, and not in the least 

 aware of the dangerous proximity of the ugly 

 Dankalli, with his still more ugly matchlock. All at 

 once we saw Himyah drop behind a large stone, 

 that quite screened him from our observation, 

 during the long time he was taking his aim, but 

 which, it seems, afforded him a most advantageous 

 rest for the long barrel of his piece. After some 

 minutes of suspense, a little puff of smoke from the 



