TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 201 
while, Cecily and I went out on a sort of prospecting ex- 
cursion. We actually came on some water oozing up 
through a rock, not standing or sluggish. So we sent 
a man back to camp to tell the head camel man to 
have out all his animals and water them whether they 
wanted it or not. 
fa We struck a well-defined caravan route, probably the 
road to Wardare over the Marehan. We arrived by a 
more direct line from Galadi. Game is always scarcer on 
frequented ways, so we turned off into the wilderness. 
A rocky nullah lay to our left, and we caught a 
glimpse of a fine hyaena looking over the country. 
He stood on the summit of a pile of whitish rock, 
clearly outlined, and as he winded us, or caught a 
glimpse of the leading figures, he was off his pinnacle 
with a mighty bound and away into the adad bushes 
behind him. A little farther we came on fresh lion 
spoor, and followed it up only to overrun it. The 
ground here was for the most part so stony and baked 
up it was impossible to track at all. We held on, 
searching in circles and then pursuing the line we 
thought most likely. We were more than rewarded. 
Under a shady guda tree lay a vast lioness with year- 
old cub. Our men ran in different directions to cut 
off the retreat, but we called to them to come back. 
We had quite enough skins without trying to deplete 
the country of a lioness at this stage of the expedition, 
especially as the cub was small, and not yet thoroughly 
able to fight his own battles. She would have to 
wage war for herself and him. I dislike all wholesale 
slaughter ; it ruins any sporting ground. 
