38 
SOMALILAND 
he can invariably hear you coming, and when he jumps up 
you can never get your shot in before he disappears from 
view. At the sound of your footsteps he will go slinking 
off, and you may be only 20 yards from him, but you may 
never see him. So that in very thick bush there is only 
one course open to. you — to build a zareba and bait with a 
donkey, and try to kill the lion as he drinks the animals 
blood. It is all over very quickly for the baited animal. 
The lion springs (or, rather, he doesn’t in my case) upon the 
animal, and with one bite through the neck kills it instantly, 
before it is aware of what is going on. The three methods 
of hunting the lion in Somaliland, then, are : Tracking him 
to his lair ; riding him to bay in the open ; baiting for him 
at night. 
At 5.30 next morning the so-called ‘ guide ’ and some of 
my men turned up to let us out of our miniature castle of 
thorn-bushes, looking very crestfallen when they beheld 
the donkey and the camel both alive. I sent home the latter 
animals with my bedding, and, taking the ponies, went forth 
to view the nakedness of the land. And very naked we 
found it, as far as game was concerned, for several miles. 
At length my syce, climbing a tree, found a herd of five 
oryx, which we commenced to stalk. I don’t know how it 
is, but antelopes seem to be always on the move, morning, 
noon and night. Now, these animals were walking straight 
for a small bush, and would pass us broadside at 100 yards. 
Good 1 We crawled for that bush as hard as we could go, 
but we found they had turned round and were walking in 
exactly the opposite direction to that which they were 
taking a second ago. But antelopes are not Scotch red- 
deer, the pursuit of which is mere child’s play to the 
pursuit of the former, for I have tried them both. Ante- 
lope will lead you on and on, and then when perchance you 
do get a shot, they will stand with their heads and necks 
covered in branches and trees, and probably you see nothing 
but haunches. 
T thought that I had now lost all nervousness in stalking 
