132 
SOMALILAND 
day I saw several fresh rhinoceros tracks, but not a head 
of game did I encounter. On the following day a very 
strong wind blew all the morning, and it turned out to be 
the coldest noon I have ever experienced in Somaliland. 1 
literally shivered in the shade at breakfast-time. Light, 
fleecy clouds did not entirely obscure the sun’s rays, so I 
was at a loss to account for the sudden change of tempera- 
ture. The country had changed from ’thick bush to hills 
covered with long, burnt-up grass, with a thin sprinkling 
of trees. In the afternoon we descended several hundred 
feet, when the temperature rose again, until it became 
unbearably hot. During the day we saw very little game. 
Fever was now rapidly abating in our ranks, but I was 
still obliged to tramp it on foot and allow one sick man to 
ride a pony, the other pony being sick. All next day we 
marched through the most game-forsaken country I had 
ever had the bad luck to pass through ; there was not even 
a game-bird to be seen. I had now traversed some hundred 
miles without bagging a single head. 
From the top of a considerable rise we got a good view 
of the surrounding country. Range upon range of hills, 
thickly covered with 'trees, stretched out before us, and in 
the valleys were open plains covered with long, burnt- up 
grass. I thought to myself : ‘ Well, at any rate, we shall 
see game this afternoon.’ We now heard two signal-shots 
fired by the main caravan, but it was utterly impossible 
even then to make out where they were, in such a labyrinth 
of nullahs on all sides. I told my boy, who happened to 
be with me, to fire my shot-gun as a signal. ‘ Ba — bang !’ 
went the gun, and the next thing I saw was Master Ali 
Deria sprawling on his back ! He had fired both barrels 
off at once, which had knocked him clean off his pins 1 At 
length, on descending, we found the caravan and pitched 
for the mid-day rest on a long, open plain, covered with 
dried-up grass. Here, probably owing to the absence of 
dew and rain, not an ‘owl’ gazelle was to be seen, 
although it appeared to me to be an ideal place for them. 
