TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 89 
evidently badly wanted answered. One was to know 
if these trophies had some great intrinsic value there 
that so many people come at such trouble and danger 
to themselves to get them ? He evidently was much 
puzzled. 
At last the dawn came, and at the first hint of it we 
prepared to move. The scene was of rare beauty. In 
the dense undergrowth that hid the trees to the height 
of several feet was a wonder world of mystery. 
Webs of Arachne’s weaving made bars of silver 
gossamer from bush to bough. ’Twas like a scene 
from Shakespeare’s woodlands. The same thrill and 
marvel, joy, happiness and pain. For life is not all 
a song. Fierce burning strife comes oft to mar the 
stillness, death, too, in cruellest form. In the jungle 
all is one long struggle for survival ; no excuses are 
made, none wanted, they kill to live, just as we 
human things kill each other every day ; only in 
civilisation it is done more delicately. 
First we investigated the place of the eyes, and there, 
sure enough, was a blood trail. We followed but a few 
yards to find a large striped hyaena — a magnificent 
beast, yellow gray, with black stripes on his shoulders, 
and beautiful mane and bushy gray tail. He measured 
from nose to tail four feet eight inches. We skinned 
and decapitated him, a long and horrid business, and 
then took up our none too pleasant loads and departed. 
We passed the remains of the dead oryx, but there 
was little left of him. The hyaenas had been feast- 
ing all the night, and now the vultures were picking 
his bones. It was still darkish as we took our way 
