82 
SOMALILAND 
finished him with the knife. He was a splendid fat animal 
(huge grins on the faces of the Somalis), and had a magni- 
ficent head, the finest I had as yet obtained. Having 
loaded men and pony with the meat, we again set olf 
homewards, the vultures pouncing down upon the gory 
carcase before we had advanced half a dozen yards. They 
appeared, as it were, out of space. I had noticed none in 
the sky during the skinning operation. We had not pro- 
ceeded far, when four or five gerenook made their appearance. 
I fired, and heard the bullet go ‘ thud ’ against the male, 
but he made off with the others ; we followed, but owing 
to the long grass we could make out no track. We had 
gone some distance, when we heard a shout from the syce 
who was leading the pony behind us, and, going back, we 
found the gerenook lying dead at his feet, the bullet having 
gone through his middle. The Somalis would not take any 
of its meat, the Mohammedan religion not allowing them 
to eat of the meat of an animal found dead. We ripped 
off the skin in double-quick time, my shikari talking all 
the time after this manner : 
‘We no mind work if we get good game; if you get 
good game, all same aliphint, rhino, lion, then you give me 
plenty backsheesh. When Lord How-is-he and Prince 
What’s-his-name killed aliphint, they gives me 50 rupees ; 
you do all same !’ 
We had to remain here for three days, as the men we had 
sent"* to buy sheep with cloth did not return from their spree. 
Two of the men had fever badly here, and I was troubled 
with large white spots all over my body, which itched 
dreadfully : it was not prickly heat, nor was it caused by 
mosquitoes, for luckily there were none of these pests here. 
When the Somalis wish to cook a large quantity of meat, 
they dig out a trench in the sand, about 4 feet long, with 
their spears. They place across the trench a network or 
grid of stout sticks, upon which they place the chunks of 
meat ; they then light a fire of dry sticks at the bottom 
of the trench, and keep turning the meat until properly 
