138 
SOMALILAND 
afternoon it rained hard, so the Somalis set to work propping 
up sticks, over which they threw the camel-mats, and, 
having lighted small fires of damp wood in these extempore 
huts, sat huddled together shivering. I sent a present 
down to the Abyssinian headman, but it soon afterwards 
reappeared, having been declined with thanks. He sent a 
message asking me to send him down my vessels, when he 
would fill them with fresh milk every morning, and send 
them back again. My pony, which had been so badly 
bitten by the tsetse-fly, was now evidently dying. He 
became much swollen, especially round the eyes and belly. 
He kept lying down and getting up again, and when the 
poor beast cropped grass he let it fall uneaten out of his 
mouth. I wanted to shoot it, but the Somalis persuaded 
me to leave it alone, saying that it might possibly recover 
if the rain ceased. 
After a very damp night spent in a very damp bed, I 
awoke to find it still raining, and the hills to the west 
were obscured in a thick mist. However, at ten it cleared 
up, and so I sallied forth, armed with thick clothing, for it 
was very cold. I hired four men and horses to scour the 
' open plain for lions, and behind us followed a perfect multi- 
tude of men, women and children, who intended to follow 
us, hoping to be given meat. It was a long walk down to 
the open plain, past countless herds of sheep and cattle 
belonging to the Abyssinians, who had looted them from 
the Somalis.f We soon spied a single hartebeest walking 
slowly along, looking like a huge donkey. But get near 
him I could not. At length, as he mounted an ant-heap 
and so showed up clearly, I let him have it at very long 
range. I hit him high up the fore -leg, but he got away at 
such an amazing pace that my pony never got within 100 
yards of him, and when he ran down a gentle slope my 
syce very prudently gave up the chase, as we had a long 
day before us. 
After missing two hartebeest at long range, I ascended 
a gentle slope, from the top of which I saw four herds of 
