ABUNDANCE OF GAME 
177 
much gold, but since the departure of the Gallas, who filled 
up the huge pits they had dug out in search of the 
precious metal before they were driven out, no Somalis 
have ever taken the trouble to open them up again. 
Next day we went out upon the plain in search of meat. 
Stanford shot an ‘ owl ’ and a hartebeest, and I, after badly 
missing a single oryx, knocked over big ‘ owl ’ bucks right 
and left with my *450 Express, to which I was giving 
another trial. One of the ^ owl,’ however, got up again, and 
although my shikari got fairly close up to it on the pony, 
he failed to spear it. He reported that the solid bullet had 
gone right through its neck. 
Next morning, in the thick bush bordering the open 
plain, I saw two silver-backed jackals. On killing one, his 
mate at once commenced to eat him, and I knocked her 
over by his side. They were a pretty pair with very 
handsome coats. After disturbing two oryx in the thicket, 
we emerged into a comparatively open bit, and a single 
Clarke’s gazelle offering its broadside got the bullet through 
the base of the heart, and after running 100 yards drojDped 
dead. 
As I neared home, I saw an ‘ owl ’ gazelle feeding with 
some others in an odd way. He appeared to have a stiff 
neck, as he fed moving in a straight line, never turning 
his head to the right or left. He carried a very fine head, 
and I suspected I had seen him before. After a careful 
stalk I shot him, and on going up found that it was the 
animal I had knocked over the night before. The bullet, 
a solid ‘450 Express, had, as my shikari said, gone right 
through the neck below the cervical vertebrae, and both 
holes in the skin had' almost healed up during the night. 
His massive horns measured 19^ inches round the curve. 
In the afternoon ten horsemen turned up to pay their 
respects and see what they could get out of us with their 
‘Mot, mot, mot, io mot’ (We welcome you), to which I 
answered ‘ Kool leeban ’ (Thanks). These tomashos are a 
perfect nuisance. One is obliged to sit in the hot sun or 
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