ABRIORDI GARODI 
31 
you have absolutely nothing else to do. You may get a 
very difficult shot after following them for miles ; as a rule, 
they are the most aggravating animals I have had as yet 
to deal with. After trotting away for a couple of hundred 
yards, they will stop and feed, as if to tempt you to still 
follow them. Then, just as you get within range, off they 
bound again. 
We killed a small black snake, which the men declared 
was very deadly ; and after firing three shots out of my 
choke-bore gun with ‘ B B ' shot, I at length brought to a 
standstill a grand specimen of big bustard, which we skinned 
on the, spot. My ‘bony,’ as my shikari calls my piece of 
horse-flesh, was now troubled with a horrid species of tick, 
which burrowed its head deep into the flesh at the roots of 
the hairs of his mane, face, ears, and^ tail. Some of these 
creatures swell out to the size of a large hazel-nut, and 
look like miniature inflated bull’s bladders. The result of 
using Keating’s Powder upon the pony was that the pests 
left him and settled upon me, in spite of the constant use 
of carbolic soap. 
At 4.15 p.m. we camped near a village, and heard that a 
lioness and her cub were constantly chasing the sheep, and 
that there were also some leopards about. At this place, 
called Abriordi Garodi (the Graves of the Old Men), 
Said Hirsi, the headman of the tribe of Summathar Abdulla, 
came to call, and presented me with some fresh goat’s milk 
and two fat sheep. I gave him some tohes in return. We 
could not now proceed further south-east owing to the 
scarcity of water. I sent out three men with camels to 
look for the precious fluid, but they returned saying all the 
water-holes were dried up. So I was obliged to buy two 
days’ water-supply from the village at an exorbitant price, 
and blew my headman up for his bad management in not 
taking enough water, and allowing us to run short. 
Whenever I killed an animal my shikari never thought of 
giving me any praise. He would say : 
‘ You have good bullet — best bullet I see !’ 
