TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 245 
agile Somali would caper in front of the pachyderm 
to attract his attention, and a rider at the gallop 
would pass in swift flying rush behind and cut the 
ham-string or tendon of one of the hind legs. The 
elephant would then be at the mercy of the hunters. 
It must have been a dangerously exciting business. 
The sword used — I saw one in the hut of a Mullah 
at the Upper Sheik — is of native make, apparently, 
strong, and longer in the blade than the bilawa, 
which is often seen in its scabbard of white leather 
bound round the waist of a Somali. It was not unlike 
the familiar sword known to us as the “ Dervish ” — 
two-edged, with a groove down the centre, and light. 
The handle was of horn, and bound about with 
leather. And yet we think ourselves brave to venture 
in the vicinity of my lord the elephant with the latest 
thing in rifles in our hands ! 
What with the ham-stringing, and all hunters killing 
cows and bulls indiscriminately, the result has been 
that the elephant has left his old haunts, never to 
return. The Somalis wasted the entire carcase. They 
do not care to eat the flesh, and even the hide is not so 
beloved as that of the oryx and rhino. The Somali 
tusks were never of the vast proportions attained 
in other parts of Africa. Ivory still forms part of the 
stock of some trading caravans, so the elephants must 
exist in the flesh somewhere in Somaliland, unless 
these traders trade with others again at the rear of 
the back of beyond. 
A twig cracked ! No twig of mine, I swear, since 
I sat like a statue carved in stone. My foot had long 
