188 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
On the 8th April I rose before dawn with Geli, Hassan, my 
camelman Abokr, my sais Daura, and a guide. We took one 
camel with us, and holding due west we entered the thick 
mimdsa forest called G-ol Wiyileh, or the “ Valley of Rhino- 
ceroses.” After going four miles, when we had gained the 
centre of the valley, in dense bush, we came to fresh tracks of 
three of these animals, which had passed late in the night, 
making for the south-west from the pools of the Jerer Valley. 
They led us through many miles of thick bush, but the tracking 
was easy owing to there being three together ; and at one o’clock 
in the afternoon, after having left camp for seven hours, we came 
on them standing in the dense shade of a thick clump of umbrella 
mimosas. There was a full-grown bull, accompanied by a large 
cow and a bull calf, the big bull having a fine front horn. 
I at once sank to a sitting position, holding my eight-bore, 
while Hassan laid down the heavy four-bore on the grass beside 
me to be used in case of a charge. The big bull was eighty 
yards away ; I fired for his ear, and he dropped dead, remaining 
in a sitting posture and looking as if carved in stone. I fired 
the other barrel at one of the others, which turned out to be the 
large calf, and the game made off. We decided not to follow at 
once, but to give them time to get over their fright, as they had 
never actually seen us. So I took a careful photograph of the 
big bull, and after taking off the head and some shields, I sent 
Daura back to Tuli on R4s Makunan’s mule, telling him to 
bring the camp to a deserted zerfba we had noticed while 
tracking, not far from where the bull lay. 
Leaving Abokr, the guide, and a camel by the body, I took 
my two hunters, Geli and Hassan, and followed the track of the 
remaining rhinoceroses, which was plentifully sprinkled with 
blood. I came upon them in thick cover, standing forty yards 
away, heads towards us ; and at once sitting down with the rifle 
I was carrying, which happened to be the heavy four-bore, I 
fired at the nearest head through a maze of interlaced branches. 
The four-bore pushed me over on my back, and the rhinos 
charged us at once with a volley of puffing sounds, crashing 
through the jungle at full gallop. As I rose to my feet the 
young bull passed me, and took after the two men ; the big cow 
followed, passing at a distance of only ten yards, and I threw 
the rifle to my shoulder and knocked her over, making her turn 
a somersault with her four legs fighting the air ! Giving a 
hurried look at her, and seeing her lying still, I rushed on after 
