CHAPTER VII. 
Upper Sheik — Koodoo — A young caracal caught — We reach Berbera. 
Next morning we marched up a gradually ascending 
slope, and across several deep ravines, where the going 
was very hard for the camels. After trying in vain to 
stalk two herds of gerenook, and missing a fine boar wart 
hog, we camped at Upper Sheik, half a mile south of the 
Sheik Argudub’s tomb, a dome-shaped structure, which, on 
account of its whiteness, could be seen miles away. This 
place was one of the few picturesque spots I had seen in 
Somaliland, the Gulls range of hills to the east and west of 
us being exceedingly grand. Here I proposed to stay a 
couple of days to rest the camels, preparatory to the 
difficult descent of the Sheik mountain-pass to the north 
of us. 
I started early next morning for the tops of the hills to 
the east, taking a guide with me. The mountain track 
led us through a maze of ravines. Up and up we went, 
the view becoming grander as we ascended. This was an 
ideal spot for elephants, and to think that but ten years 
ago they roamed over these hills in numbers ! But so 
destructive had been the hands of so-called sportsmen, who 
slaughtered male and female alike, that to-day there was 
not a single one left, and never would be again. Never 
more would these countless ravines echo with the majestic 
roar of the lion or the weird trumpet of the elephant. 
They were both as extinct here as the dodo. At length 
we reached the top. What a magnificent view met my 
