Ill 
BIG GAME SHOOTING , 1887 
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bordered by belts of high tree -jungle about a mile wide. 
These reeds, generally ten feet high, were at that time infested 
by lions, which did not appear in the daytime, but left plenty 
of tracks in the sand, showing where they had prowled up and 
down the river-beds at night. In May, June, and December 
elephants used to come down these rivers to feed on the creepers 
and aloes of the forest belts along their banks, often leaving the 
shelter of the trees to stand in the patches of reeds. 
I had determined to make GuHnleh my headquarters for 
elephant-hunting, and to send my two Somali trackers, who 
were mounted, together with a Habr Gerhajis horseman who 
had joined us at Mandeira, into all the large elephant jungles 
within twenty miles. Meanwhile I remained at Gulanleh, 
going out shooting every day. Here I was lucky enough to 
bag tw’o fine bull beisa and two cow^, all four having long, 
straight horns. A few buck Waller’s and plateau gazelles 
followed, and on the second day of my stay we put up nine 
ostriches, there being two cocks and seven hens. I fired at 
them with the Martini -Henry at three hundred yards as they 
sailed away, but only knocked up the dust around them. Three 
