22 
SOMALILAND 
hind-legs bolt upright, and feeding on the tender shoots on 
the top of a mimosa-bush. The distance was 100 yards, 
and only his he,ad and neck were visible over the bush. 
The bullet went through his neck, and he disappeared from 
view. On running up, I found him stone-dead behind the 
bush. He proved to have a beautiful head, and we set to 
work and skinned him then and there. 
On the way home we found an enormous land-tortoise, 
which we in turn carried home — a distance of two miles. 
It was so heavy that I could with difficulty lift it. It 
uttered the most extraordinary snorting and blowing noises 
on being touched. I also shot a guinea-fowl for the pot. 
My gun and riHe shooting was now fast improving daily. 
Everyone knows to hit an animal. Anybody with the 
vaguest notions of anatomy knows where the most vulner- 
able parts of an animal lie, namely, the brain, the heart, 
and the. spinal column. The question is not luhere to hit 
an animal, but hoio to hit an animal in the right place. 
This is indeed a difficulty. One can perhaps hit a foot- 
square board at 100 yards every time one fires at it. But 
crawl on your hands and knees for 100 yards, run another 
200 yards or more under a temperature of 115°, turn the 
square board into a little moving antelope, showing but his 
head and neck, or maybe his rump only, find no rest for 
your rifle, and be obliged to snap at him, and you’ll find 
you miss him nearly every time at 100 yards. You don’t 
want to know where to strike him, I repeat : you want to 
keep a steady hand after a long run and crawl, a cool head, 
keen sight, no nervousness, and no drinking the night 
before ; then, if you are naturally a strong man, you will 
know hoiv to strike your game. One is often hurried by 
one’s shikari or followers^ When the game has- neither 
seen nor winded you, take^Ze^z^y. of time, get as comfortable 
as you can and as near as you can, disregarding altogether 
your shikari’s cries of ‘ Quick, sahib, quick ! Now, sahib, 
now shoot, shoot !’ One’s shots are often spoilt by the 
keenness and overanxiety of one’s followers. The best 
