SOMALILAND 
SO 
earth, and as I was prodding a spear down, one of them 
bolted. I then took off my coat, and set my shikari to 
work poking away with the spear, whilst I kept watch at 
the bolt-hole, holding my coat in my hands. After poking 
and digging for about five minutes, number two fox bolted, 
whereupon I grabbed him, luckily, by the scruff of his neck. 
He bit out right and left, and finally caught my coat in his 
sharp teeth, and refused to let go. As he was an old one, 
and would have died in confinement, I despatched him with 
a blow on the head with a spear. He possessed a very fine 
skin, far darker than the European fox. The natives called 
him ‘ guda dowwow ’ (the beast that lives under the big 
trees). 
At length we reached a place called Owari, where we 
found a large lake, quite a novelty to me. Around it 
waddled some Egyptian geese, which appeared to take no 
notice of us whatever. I was glad of a rest, as marching 
in deep sand is very tiring work, one’s foot slipping back 
2 or 3 inches at every step. 
Next morning I wandered about from 6 to 10 a.m. 
without seeing anything but gerenook and dik-dik. The 
headman of the place came and said ‘ salaam ’ to me and 
presented me with two sheep and two harns of camel’s 
milk. The milk is excellent if the camel is milked into 
one’s own tin vessels, but the native Jiarns' make it taste 
j 
badly. 
In the afternoon I shot birds round the lake and skinned 
them in the evening. 
Next day we marched from the lake for two hours until 
we came to several large villages full of people, and as 
there was no chance of finding game, I went back to camp 
early for breakfast. 
In the afternoon, as I was writing, I beheld several 
men on horseback approaching fully armed, followed by 
upwards of 400 men, women and children. I blew 
my whistle, but my headman said they were coming as 
friends. The three headmen of the villages now^ advanced 
