ALONE IN THE DESERT 
259 
answered me. I waited another half-hour, then walked to 
the top of the rise. What a scene of desolation ! Not a 
bit of green to be seen ; nothing but sand, stones, and 
burnt-up scrub. I fired my rifle at intervals, but had no 
response. Just when 1 thought they had utterly lost me, 
I heard a shout, and soon after three men and a pony came 
over the sky-line. After loading up the pony with the best 
of the meat, the skull and skin, we followed a river-bed for 
several miles, until we reached the camels’ spoor. My best 
pony now show^ed an inclination to lie down. We took off 
the meat and rested him. Poor beast, when he was given 
me in the Marehan country he was fat and frisky. Now I 
could count nearly every bone in his body, and his spirit 
had fled. 
On and on we marched in the deep sand, the wind 
throwing up the dust and nearly blinding me. Oh, intend- 
ing colonist, be warned in time, and leave this country well 
alone : a country full of bad people, no water, and little 
green grass. The wilderness of Canada is bad enough, but 
quite a paradise after Somaliland. Presently a shot was 
heard far to the north of us. Two hours after we reached 
camp, pitched by the side of a stony tug. I examined 
the neck of the bull oryx, and the skin measured here half 
an inch thick. From the neck of the oryx the best shields 
are made, costing from 6 to 10 rupees in Berbera. The 
skin over the shoulders furnishes a second quality shield, 
not so thick, costing 3 or 4 rupees. 
In the afternoon we marched through aloe and euphorbia 
jungle, passing many villages. A man came up and said 
that a leopard had killed nine sheep in his village the 
night before, but had taken none away. This is a common 
practice among lions and leopards in Africa. I felt too 
ill to hunt, in spite of the promising-looking jungle, and 
we camped early, building a fence, outside which we tied 
up another ‘ goat bullet,’ which I bought on the way. At 
8 p.m. the sentry fired at an animal which charged the 
goat, but nothing resulted. About 11.30 p.m. a man 
17—2 
