SOMALILAND 
ii8 
to regain his legs. But he was by no means done for yet. 
I sent a *450 solid through his neck, which quieted him, 
and my shikari ran down to cut his throat. But no ! 
With a fearful effort, the huge beast almost regained his 
feet, and, falling back into a half-sitting position, brandished 
his formidable-looking horns about in threatening fashion. 
Fearing if he regained his legs there might be trouble in 
store for some of us, I again seized the eight-bore, and, 
running right up to him, finished his awe-inspiring struggles 
with a bullet through the neck. 
As we were now a long way from the main caravan, I 
sent my syce on the pony to fetch a camel to carry his 
head and hide. This animal measured 11 J feet long ; girth 
feet. His anterior horn measured 16|- inches, and the 
posterior horn 7 inches, in length. Whilst following the 
caravan we fell in with an incredible number of ‘ rhino ’ 
spoors, and a few old elephant tracks. The latter had 
evidently left the country. In the west the lightning was 
flashing every night, and this the elephants had followed. 
For lightning means rain, and rain means fresh green grass 
and tender shoots upon the thorn-trees, whereas here it 
was all burnt up, and there was a general atmosphere of 
drought. As my shikaris truly said, ‘ Dar aliphint is all 
same wind, now here, den dare.’ We at length found the 
camel’s spoor, and after tracking it for several miles came 
upon the camp pitched near Boholo Deno. 
After several hours of sawing, hacking, and cutting at 
the ‘ rhino’s ’ head, my men managed to sever the horns 
from the skull, not before they had broken my saw and 
snapped a heavy chisel into two pieces ! They were 
getting tired of work, it was easy to see, by the grumbling 
and growling that went on every day, and the careless way 
in which they loaded the camels and attended to the big 
game trophies. I was obliged to watch the latter with the 
greatest care, as the ravages made by a little beetle-grub 
upon the skins were terrible. I also discovered that part 
of the head of one rhinoceros was going rotten, and was 
