148 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
monster we were tackling was no exception to the 
rule, and manufactured the enemy on the “ whilst 
you wait ” principle. 
It now became a matter for our deep consideration 
as to how far our trip should extend. 
We had known before we started that Somaliland 
is no longer the old time sportsman’s paradise. The 
shikar obtainable is not what it was, and every year 
lessens the chances. The truth is the country is fairly 
shot out. 
Fifteen years ago the most excellent shooting was 
to be had all over ; now, unless one penetrates right 
into the interior where a certain amount of danger 
from warlike tribes must be looked for, there is not 
much hope of a truly great and representative bag. 
The reserving of the Hargeisa and Mirso as entirely 
protected regions has also necessarily restricted the 
game area. The day of the sportsman in all Africa was 
in that Golden Age when he, all untrammelled, might 
stalk the more important fauna, to say nothing of the 
lesser, as he listed. Now he pays heavy toll, varying 
with the scarcity of the quarry, and the licences are 
not the least part of the expenses. Of course the 
needful preservation of big game should, and inevi- 
tably must, lead to good results, since to husband the 
resources of anything is to accumulate in the long run. 
But the idea of artificial preservation and legislation 
seems to knock some of the elemental romance out of 
hunting. Anything cut and dried seems out of place 
in sport of big game variety, and brings it down to 
the nearer level of shooting pheasants that know you 
