Zebras are very inquisitive; when we were encamped for some days at Eil-Fúd, in the Rer Amáden country, the zebras used to come at night and bray and stamp round our camp, and were answered by my Abyssinian mule. The sounds made by the two animals are somewhat similar.
Wild Ass (Equus nubianus somálicus)
Native name, Gumburi
The wild ass is common in sterile parts of Guban, especially to the east of Berbera. In Ogádén its place is taken by the zebra. It is a fine animal and has striped legs. It can scarcely be considered as fair game to the sportsman.
Leopards (Shabél) are very abundant in Somáliland, and are the great scourge of the shepherds. They spring into karias at night without the slightest fear, and nearly all the losses among sheep and goats are caused either by leopards or hyænas. On Gólis Range, round Mandeira, they are especially common, and it is not an unusual thing to hear them coughing by day from the shelter of some cave high up among the mountains. The sound is most like that of a saw being drawn to and fro through a plank, only much deeper, and can be heard at a great distance. Leopards are so stealthy that they are seldom seen by day. The best way to kill one is to wait about among the tribes near the foot of the mountains, and having found a karia that is particularly favoured by them, to construct a shelter and tie up a goat, preferably a half-grown one which will bleat; if the leopard charges the goat, it is best to wait till he is quietly lying over the victim drinking its blood, offering a certain shot. Another way is to find out the cave where the leopard lives, and to tie up a goat just before dusk and sit over it for half an hour.
Leopards are found in all kinds of ground, and not necessarily in hilly country. I have had them spring into my camp more than a dozen times, and once one which could not get over our high zeríba in any other way, ran along the branch of a tree under which our camp had been pitched, and dropped perpendicularly down among us, close to the goats; luckily he was driven off in time by the sentry. Many goats have been killed inside my camp by leopards.
Wart-hog (Phacochœrus æthiopicus). Native name, Dófar.
Outside width in a straight line across tusks, 12¼ inches.
Wart-hogs (Phacochœrus æthiopicus) called Dófar by the Somális, are common, especially along the base of Gólis. Most of the ground which they inhabit is not suitable for hard riding, so when they have exceptionally fine tusks they are shot. The Somáli, being a good Mussulman, will neither touch a dead wart-hog nor the knife which has been used in cutting off the head; and if tempted by a fine pair of tusks to kill a wart-hog, the traveller must be ready to tackle this job himself. It is tough work skinning the head, and it is annoying to have to hang the tin box or bucket, in which the skull has been packed, daily on a camel, to say nothing of preserving the head and cleaning the skull. I have always done this work myself with as pleasant a face as possible, in spite of strong looks of disapproval from the natives; and the few curious wart-hog skulls which I have brought home well repaid me for my labour. It is worth knowing that a Midgán or a starving Somáli may sometimes be bribed to do this unclean work, provided no one is looking on and the matter is kept a secret.