72 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
either side rose what looked like an impenetrable yellow wall ; 
wherever we looked we saw nothing but reeds, and as we 
advanced we had to climb over the mounds of fallen stalks. 
Yard by yard we pushed on, now and then stopping to listen. 
Along the floor and sides of the lane of reeds blood was plenti- 
fully sprinkled, and at length we began to approach the place 
where we had last heard him bellow ; then I peeped round an 
angle and saw him lying on his side quite dead, and we walked 
up to examine our prize. He was an old bull, ten feet six 
inches at the shoulder ; we measured him with bits of reeds 
which we afterwards laid beside a tape ; and he had a beautiful 
white pair of tusks without a flaw, four feet long, and thick for 
Somali ivory. Somali elephant tusks are, as a rule, nothing like 
the size of those found in the centre of the continent. 
By the time the sun had gone down we had cut out one tusk, 
and returned up the river to search the plateau for a camping- 
ground with good grass for the horses. Leaving the main river, 
we formed our bivouac near a small grassy nala. The arrange- 
ments for the night were quickly made, and, spreading our 
blankets under the lee of a thorn-bush, we were soon all fast 
asleep. We had no fence, and at midnight I was awakened 
by a lion roaring a short distance up the nala. Bubbing my 
eyes, I awoke Deria, and told him to watch and keep the fire 
alight, then I dozed off again, and when we awoke next morning 
