v^^ "^. -^^ '^, •"< '. V^^ A O. Oo^ 'bo'' N .0- rf- . o ..^.^ A^^ ■*■ V. ,0o 'V- .0 ,>^ .>-. •\ '^c.. 1: x°^-' 'A^ .<\-' ^ .0' '-b. -^ ,v.^' •/ ,** '*. \' ^ ' " / .*^^\o .«*' aV^ <*, 0^ c°^"«/^^ ^■^'. '^^ .■^' /'^v V^ . ' ^^^ '=^'^>""^^^o^ ^. ' * . 1 ^ '^.,^^ <.^ < iX' ^''••':/:--;''X'"""'/!'!;;'^\'-^-V\ "*/> ■*bo^ ,-0 V <^.> .>*' ^ >* <>.•?•• '^ .(S.^. •« .i. 'V* * 0> s N^ ^"°- \%- ,<,< ^*,. v> ,- ^ • " / r l« ^51 * :*'\^ c°\ "^^^ ■"^. c^^ ■^■\. -^:- ■^■\ '/. C * , N o ^ . < V y; ^^ .0°.. •*^ „\ AV . '^•i'^ .^^ .t^' -\^' ^/^ .-i.'' ^V ::':'; •^-c^ S'^-'-J^ O. ■/ _ "o^ ■'^-- ,<^' .^^ •%. ^. ■:i^ ' ''■J- ,<:■ ^/•^^ />> ^^-^ •v x'^^^. c^ ^-K .V xO^-< -x^- •A, >.\ * > '3 '% 4 %:''.]^y^' ■^"^^^^' >>• ^/>. ■^.>^.^v ■^^ '/ ^>. ,v 1 « < '^v, ^^ r.% ■"^A :\'-' '^^. AFRICAN GAME TRAILS BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS AFRICAN GAME TRAILS. An account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist. Illustrated. Large Svo $4.00 net OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER. New Edition. Illustrated. Svo . . . §3.00 net OLIVER CROMWELL. Illustrated. 8vo . . $^.00 THE ROUGH RIDERS. Illustrated. Svo . . §1.50 THE ROOSEVELT BOOK. Selections from the Writ- ings of Theodore Roosevelt. i6mo . 50 cents net THE ELKHORN EDITION. Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt, io volumes. Illustrated. Svo. Sold by subscription. Mr. Roosevelt and one of his big lions From a photograph by Kermil Roosevelt AFRICAN GAME TRAILS AN ACCOUNT OF THE AFRICAN WANDERINGS OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER-NATURALIST V BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT WITH MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY KERMIT ROOSEVELT AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION, AND FROM DRAWINGS BY PHILIP R. GOODWIN NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS I 9 I o ■•-I ^ y SK?, Copyright. 1909, 1910, by CHARLES SCRIBNERS' SONS All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian. pniNTERS AND BINDERS iciAa7iiy4 V TO KERMIT ROOSEVELT MY SIDE-PARTNER IN OUR GREAT ADVENTURE" FOREWORD *'I SPEAK of Africa and golden joys"; the joy of wan- dering through lonely lands; the joy of hunting the mighty and terrible lords of the wilderness, the cunning, the wary, and the grim. In these greatest of the world's great hunting-grounds there are mountain peaks whose snows are dazzling under the equatorial sun; swamps where the slime oozes and bubbles and festers in the steaming heat; lakes like seas; skies that burn above deserts where the iron desolation is shrouded from view by the wavering mockery of the mirage; vast grassy plains where palms and thorn-trees fringe the dwindling streams; mighty rivers rushing out of the heart of the continent through the sadness of endless marshes; forests of gorgeous beauty, where death broods in the dark and silent depths. There are regions as healthy as the northland; and other regions, radiant with bright-hued flowers, birds and butter- flies, odorous with sweet and heavy scents, but, treacherous in their beauty, and sinister to human life. On the land and in the water there are dread brutes that feed on the flesh of man; and among the lower things, that crawl, and fly, and sting, and bite, he finds swarming foes far more evil and deadly than any beast or reptile; foes that kill his crops and his cattle, foes before which he himself per- ishes in his hundreds of thousands. FOREWORD The dark-skinned races that live in the land vary widely. Some are warlike, cattle-owning nomads; some till the soil and live in thatched huts shaped like beehives; some are fisherfolk; some are ape-like naked savages, who dwell in the woods and prey on creatures not much wilder or lower than themselves. The land teems with beasts of the chase, infinite in num- ber and incredible in variety. It holds the fiercest beasts of ravin, and the fleetest and most timid of those beings that live in undying fear of talon and fang. It holds the largest and the smallest of hoofed animals. It holds the mightiest creatures that tread the earth or swim in its rivers; it also holds distant kinsfolk of these same creatures, no bigger than woodchucks, which dwell in crannies of the rocks, and in the tree tops. There are antelope smaller than hares, and antelope larger than oxen. There are creatures which are the embodiments of grace; and others whose huge ungainliness is like that of a shape in a nightmare. The plains are alive with droves of strange and beautiful ani- mals whose like is not known elsewhere; and with others even stranger that show both in form and temper something of the fantastic and the grotesque. It is a never-ending pleasure to gaze at the great herds of buck as they move to and fro in their myriads; as they stand for their noontide rest in the quivering heat haze; as the long files come down to drink at the watering-places; as they feed and fight and rest and make love. The hunter who wanders through these lands sees sights which ever afterward remain fixed in his mind. He sees the monstrous river-horse snorting and plunging beside the boat; the giraffe looking over the tree tops at the nearing horseman; the ostrich fleeing at a speed that none may rival; the snarhng leopard and coiled python, with their FOREWORD xi lethal beauty; the zebras, barking In the moonlight, as the laden caravan passes on Its night march through a thirsty land. In after years there shall come to him memories of the lion's charge; of the gray bulk of the elephant, close at hand In the sombre woodland; of the buffalo, his sullen eyes lowering from under his helmet of horn; of the rhinoceros, truculent and stupid, standing In the bright sunlight on the empty plain. These things can be told. But there are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm. There is de- light in the hardy life of the open, in long rides rifle in hand, In the thrill of the fight with dangerous game. Apart from this, yet mingled with it. Is the strong attraction of the silent places, of the large tropic moons, and the splendor of the new stars; where the wanderer sees the awful glory of sun- rise and sunset in the wide waste spaces of the earth, unworn of man, and changed only by the slow change of the ages through time everlasting. Theodore Roosevelt. Khartoum, March 15, 1910. J^vIA^' R I C ( A \ >^m9Kbasa ^ Longitude E-.ist 35 from Greenwich Map showing Mr. Roosevelt's route and hunting trips in Africa CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE A Railroad Through the Pleistocene i CHAPTER H On an East African Ranch 38 CHAPTER HI Lion Hunting on the Kapiti Plains „ 67 CHAPTER IV On Safari. Rhino and Giraffe . o 94 CHAPTER V JujA Farm; Hippo and Leopard 123 CHAPTER VI • A Buffalo Hunt by the Kamiti 149 CHAPTER VII Trekking Through the Thirst to the Sotik 174 CHAPTER VIII Hunting in the Sotik 204 xiii xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER IX PAGE To Lake Naivasha 237 CHAPTER X Elephant Hunting on Mount Kenia 271 CHAPTER XI The Guaso Nyero ; A River of the Equatorial Desert . . 323 CHAPTER XII To THE Uasin Gishu 374 CHAPTER XIII Uganda, and the Great Nyanza Lakes 426 CHAPTER XIV The Great Rhinoceros of the Lado 454 CHAPTER XV Down the Nile ; The Giant Eland , 504 Appendix A [Personal Acknowledgments] 535 Appendix B [Lists of Mammals; Heller's Notes] .... 536 Appendix C [Loring's Notes] 545 Appendix D [Biological Survey of Mount Kenia] .... 550 Appendix E [Protective Coloration in Animals] 552 Appendix F [The Pigskin Library] 569 Index ... 577 ILLUSTRATIONS Mr. Roosevelt and one of his big lions Frontispii lece PAGE Map showing Mr. Roosevelt's route and hunting trips in Africa . . . . xii Map of the Uganda Railway, British East Africa. Total length from Mom- basa on the Indian Ocean to Port Florence on Lake Victoria Nyanza, 581 miles 3 We would gather on deck around Selous to listen to tales of strange adventures 5 A baobab-tree, Mombasa 6 Kermit Roosevelt and R. J. Cuninghame preparing to take pictures .... 7 F. C. Selous 8 R. J. Cuninghame, known to the Swahilis as "Bwana Medivu," the master with the beard 9 Mr. Roosevelt saying good-by in the Mombasa station 11 Train on the Uganda Railway 13 Mr. Roosevelt, Governor Jackson, Mr. Selous, and Dr. Mearns, riding in front of the engine on the way to Kapiti 15 Mr. Roosevelt and some members of his caravan 17 A large American flag was floating over my own tent 21 The askaris and porters drawn up in line to greet us 22 Our first camp, Kapiti Plains station, on a bare, dry plain covered with brown and withered grass 24 Porters and their tents 27 My first "tommy" (Thomson's gazelle) 31 A herd of zebra and hartebeest . . . • ' 33 Head of the wildebeest bull shot by Mr. Roosevelt ........ 34 Mr. Roosevelt in Africa in his hunting costume 35 XV xvi ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Sir Alfred, Lady, and Miss Pease, on ranch steps with rhino and lion skulls and lion skins 39 Mr. Roosevelt and Medlicott at the spot where we nooned on the first (unsuc- cessful) day of lion hunting in the Lucania Donga 43 Tree with Wakamba beehives, Kitanga 45 Percival and his oxen starting off for the giraffes 46 Sir Alfred with cheetah cub, Botha 47 Klopper and Prinsloo, the two Boers working on Sir Alfred's ranch ... 49 Heads of first two big lions shot by Mr. Roosevelt 51 Some of the naturalists' porters and skinners 53 Vulture raven or white-necked raven 61 Kermit Roosevelt, Sir Alfred Pease, and Mr. Roosevelt at the carcass of first big lion 69 Clifford Hill's Kikuyu ostrich boys as they beat the tall grass for lion on the third day of lion hunting at Killima (Hill) Ugami, when we got two large and one small one. The boys had their bows and arrows for protection . 73 Mr. Roosevelt weighing a lioness (shot by him) which the porters brought in entire amid great rejoicings and chantings 75 One of the native beaters and gun-bearers 79 The start for the first day's lion hunting 81 View of rock where we lunched on the day we got the first four lions ... 82 Noon at Ugami. Sir Alfred Pease bending over behind Mr. Roosevelt ... 83 "Ben" worrying the second big lion before it died, and when we were afraid it could yet charge 87 Kermit Roosevelt and cheetah shot by him 89 The third male lion shot by Mr. Roosevelt 91 The caravan on safari at Potha 95 The American flag was always at the head or near the head of the line of march 96 Stopping for luncheon at Bondoni rocks 97 Making camp at Bondoni . . . , 100 ILLUSTRATIONS xvii PAOE A tribe of the Wakamba with their chief (in khaki with a golf cap) that came to present Mr. Roosevelt with a sheep near Kilimakiu 102 Skinning the eland 105 Before he could get quite all the way round in his headlong rush to reach us, I struck him with my left-hand barrel 107 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Percival on his way to Kapiti station with trophies m Masai Elmoran, Machakos road station 113 A young bull giraffe, shot by Mr. Roosevelt at Kilimakiu 115 Mr. Roosevelt, Captain Slatter, and rhino shot by Mr. Roosevelt at Kilimakiu 117 The Percival family 119 Group of skin -laden mules passing by the Bondoni waterhole on their way to the railroad 121 The house at Juja Farm 125 Masai warriors near McMillan's ranch on the Mua hills 127 Head of a waterbuck bull shot by Kermit Roosevelt 129 The python 131 Kermit Roosevelt and the leopard 133 Native boy carrying in a leopard shot by Kermit Roosevelt near Juja Ranch . 134 Without any warning, out he came and charged straight at Kermit, who stopped him when he was but six yards off 135 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Judd permanganating the beater who was mauled by the leopard .... 137 The second rhino 139 Group — Towing the hippo shot by Mr. Roosevelt. Landing the hippo. . . 143 Mr. Roosevelt and Bwana Engozi (Judd) 145 Mrs. McMillan and cheetah . i47 Heatley with two leopard cubs he caught 149 Falls on the Rewero River ... 151 Wildebeest bull shot by Kermit Roosevelt at Kamiti i53 xvlii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Whydah birds' dancing-ring 155 Heatley and a buffalo path 157 Mr. Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt with the first buffalo 161 Cuninghame, Kermit, Mr. Roosevelt, Heller, and Heatley at buffalo camp . 163 It was not a nice country in which to be charged by the herd, and for a moment things trembled in the balance 165 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Third buffalo bull shot in the swamp . 168 Porters dancing when breaking camp at Kamiti 171 Heller preparing to send off game heads of the first five weeks' shooting . . 172 Mr. Roosevelt after luncheon with the head missionary 175 Group — The safari on the march. Ulyate and eland calf brought in by Masai 176 An askari on duty 177 Group — The ox wagons trekking through the scrub. The porter-harper and his native harp 180 A halt • ■ • 183 Every one rested under the fly-tent at noon in the trek through the thirst . . 184 Watering the oxen. Taking their last drink for three days .... . 185 Group — Waxbills. Courser. Elephant shrev/. Springhaas. Dikdik Serval kitten. Banded mongoose. Colobus monkey 187 A wounded wildebeest 188 A Colobus monkey 189 Group — .A. wounded tommy. Head of the old bull eland 191 Giant Masai warriors and an average-sized porter . .... . . 193 Topi (shot by Kermit) . . . .... 194 The big lion shot by Kermit 195 Tarlton, and cheetah shot by Kermit Roosevelt . . 196 A wart-hog shot by Kermit Roosevelt . . 198 Extreme form of Roberts' gazelle aoo ILLUSTRATIONS XIX PAGE Group — Masai with stretching-stone in ear. A Masai woman and toto . . 201 The safari fording a stream 207 Group — A rhino family. Rhino surveying the safari. "In the middle of the African plain, deep in prehistoric thought" 209 Giraffe at home 211 Bluffs near one of our camping-places ... 212 Striped hyena trapped by Heller 213 Mr. Roosevelt, rhino, and bustard shot from rhino 216 Wildebeest at home . . 219 Rhino and young 221 A giant candelabra euphorbia by our camp 225 Group — The wounded lioness ready to charge. The wounded lioness . . 227 He came on steadily — ears laid back and uttering terrific coughing grunts . 229 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Mr. Roosevelt, Tarlton, and the big lion shot by Mr. Roosevelt 233 A rhino "coming on" 235 Masai guides on Sotik trip . ' 237 The rhino stood looking at us with his big ears cocked forward ..... 240 Rhino shot from Salt-marsh camp, of the Keitloa type, with rear horn longer than front horn 241 A sick Masai boy and his father 247 The waterhole we struck after having made a dry camp on our trek to Nai- vasha 249 Camp at Lake Naivasha 250 Water-lilies, Lake Naivasha 2J1 Group — What one has to shoot at when after hippo on water. ]Mr. Roosevelt's hippo charging open-mouthed 253 Charged straight for the boat, with open jaws, bent on mischief 255 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Group— Black-backed jackal. Tree hyrax. Big gazelle buck. Pelican. Spotted genet. White-tailed mongoose. Porcupine. Baboon .... 259 XX ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Mr. Roosevelt and Cuninghame discussing tlie next few days' march over a wildebeest shot by Mr. Roosevelt 263 Bringing the big bull hippo to shore 265 Mr. Roosevelt's big bull hippo . 268 Meru porters carrying trophy ivory 271 A waterbuck 275 Creek on slopes of Kenia near first elephant camp 276 Kikuyu Ngama, Neri 279 Kikuyu village near first elephant camp 282 West side of Kenia's peak, taken at an altitude of 15,000 feet 285 Falls on slope of Kenia near first elephant camp 288 Elephant trail in bamboo 289 Group — Camping after death of the first bull. The porters exult over the death of the bull 291 The 'Ndorobo who had hysterics on the elephant . 293 The chief who acted as guide through shambas country near first elephant camp 296 Tree-ferns on slopes of Kenia near first elephant camp 299 Suliman Na Meru, one of the elephant guides 300 Trunk of giant fig-tree in Kenia forest 303 The charging bull elephant 305 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin The first bull elephant 309 Mr. Roosevelt's description of one of the elephant pictures — written on the back of it 312 A herd of elephant in an open forest oi' high timber 313 Group — The herd getting uneasy. The saine herd on the eve of charging . 315 A watch-tower in Meru shambas 319 Mr. Roosevelt's and Kermit's camp near which they got the rhino and ele^jhant 320 A cow elephant 321 Kikuyu warrior . . 324 ILLUSTRATIONS xxi PAGE Two Kikuyu boys * 027 My boma where I was camped alone 328 An oryx bull 330 Ivory-nut palms on the Guaso Nyero 334 The Guaso Nyero 337 A Boran camp 339 A domesticated young male eland at Meru 343 Helping a donkey across the stream , ........ 347 A rnixed herd of Grevy's and Burchell's zebras 352 Group — The old bull Athi giraffe. The reticulated giraffe 355 Dressing the porter who was tossed by the rhino 363 Group — Black-and-white crow. Sparrow-lark. Ant wheatear. Ostrich nest. Rusty rock-rat. Sand-rat. African hedgehog. "Moie-rat." .... 371 Juma Yohari with the impalla killed by Kermit Roosevelt at Lake Hannington 377 Mr. Roosevelt in a bamboo forest ... 381 Kassitura with the roan antelope . . 384 A hyena by flashlight . . 387 Yohari with the waterbuck shot by Kermit Roosevelt 391 Tarlton and singsing shot by Mr. Roosevelt 394 Juma Yohari with Nilotic bushbuck 397 Round the elephant 402 The hyena, which was swollen with elephant meat, had gotten inside the huge body 403 Mr. Roosevelt and some of the Nandi warriors 406 Rearing, the lion struck the man, bearing down the shield ... 411 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin The Nandi dance around the speared lion 413 Mr. Roosevelt photographing the speared lion 415 As he fell he gripped a spear-head in his jaws with such tremendous force that he bent it double 416 xxii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The spears that did the trick 417 Sailinye, the Dorobo, who was with Kermit Roosevelt when he shot the bongo, holding up the bongo head 421 Dance of boys of the Nyika tribe in honor of the chief's son who had just died 424 Kavirondos returning from market 426 Group — Kavirondos going down to fill their water-jars. Kavirondo bullock wagons 427 Entebbe, looking over lake 429 The Indian elephant at Entebbe 430 Colonel Roosevelt at Mother Paul's Mission 433 Mother Paul's band composed of mission boys 436 Colonel Roosevelt at the Mission of the White Fathers 437 The situtunga shot by Kermit Roosevelt at Kampalla 439 Road through banana shambas, Uganda 441 The dead tusker 446 Porters entering camp at Hoima 449 Cow-herons and Angola ox on the bank of Lake Victoria Nyanza .... 450 . Fac -simile of half of the last page of Chapter XIII of Mr. Roosevelt's manuscript 452 The "white" rhino 455 Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin Sail-boat at Wadelai Landing 458 Rhino camp, Lado Enclave 459 Group — Crocodile. Nile bushbuck. Cobus maria. Baker's roan. Ground hornbill. Wagtail. Nightjar. Fish eagle 461 Camp in the Lado 463 Veldt pool, rhino camp 465 The papyrus afire 469 Group — Cow square-nosed rhino of the Lado, shot by Mr. Roosevelt. Rhino of the usual type, with prehensile lip, shot on the Sotik by Mr. Roosevelt . 472 ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii PAGE We walked up to within about twenty yards 477 Marabous and vultures. The undertakers 479 Mr. Roosevelt and Quentin Grogan 481 Mr. Roosevelt with kob, shot at rhino camp 484 The cow and calf square-nosed rhino under the tree after being disturbed by the click of the camera 487 The calf, which was old enough to shift for itself, refused to leave the body . . 488 When alarmed they failed to make out where the danger lay 494 One remained standing, but the other deliberately sat down upon its haunches like a dog 495 The monitor lizard robbing a crocodile's nest 499 Arrival at Gondokoro 509 The return to Redjaf, Belgian askari in the rear 511 Giant bull eland 516 Bari at Mongalla 518 Troops at Mongalla 519 Mr. Roosevelt with the Belaeniceps rex, or whale-billed stork, at Lake No . . 526 American Mission, Sobat River 528 Slatin Pasha, from the roof of the Khalifa's palace, shows how he made his escape from Omdurman 529 Mr. Roosevelt on his camel 53^^ He loved the great game as if he were their father. — Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Tell me the course, the voyage, the ports and the new stars. — Bliss Carman. I AFRICAN GAME TRAILS CHAPTER I A RAILROAD THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE The great world movement which began with the voy- ages of Columbus and Vasco da Gama, and which has gone on with ever-increasing rapidity and complexity until our own time, has developed along a myriad lines of interest. In no way has it been more interesting than in the way in which it has brought into sudden, violent, and intimate contact phases of the world's life history which would normally be separated by untold centuries of slow development. Again and again, in the continents new to peoples of European stock, we have seen the spectacle of a high civilization all at once thrust into and superimposed upon a wilderness of savage men and savage beasts. Nowhere, and at no time, has the contrast been more strange and more striking than in British East Africa during the last dozen years. The country lies directly under the equator; and the hinterland, due west, contains the huge Nyanza lakes, vast inland seas which gather the head-waters of the White Nile. This hinterland, with its lakes and its marshes, its snow- capped mountains, its high, dry plateaus, and its forests of deadly luxuriance, was utterly unknown to white men half a century ago. The map of Ptolemy in the second cen- tury of our era gave a more accurate view of the lakes, mountains, and head-waters of the Nile than the maps pub- lished at the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, just before Speke, Grant, and Baker made their great trips of exploration and adventure. Behind these explorers came others; and then adventurous missionaries, traders, and elephant hunters; and many men, whom risk 1 2 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS did not daunt, who feared neither danger nor hardship, traversed the country hither and thither, now for onfi rea- son, now for another, now as naturahsts, rov/ as geog- raphers, and again as government officials or as mere wanderers who loved the wild and strange life which had survived over from an elder age. Most of the tribes were of pure savages; but here and there were intrusive races of higher type; and in Uganda, beyond the Victoria Nyanza, and on the head-waters of the Nile proper, lived a people which had advanced to the upper stages of barbarism, which might almost be said to have developed a very primitive kind of semi-civilization. Over this people — for its good fortune — Great Britain estab- lished a protectorate; and ultimately, in order to get easy access to this new outpost of civilization in the heart of the Dark Continent, the British Government built a railroad from the old Arab coast town of Mombasa westward to Victoria Nyanza. This railroad, the embodiment of the eager, masterful, materialistic civilization of to-day, was pushed through a region in which nature, both as regards wild man and wild beast, did not and does not differ materially from what it was in Europe in the late Pleistocene. The comparison is not fanciful. The teeming multitudes of wild creatures, the stu- pendous size of some of them, the terrible nature of others, and the low culture of many of the savage tribes, especially of the hunting tribes, substantially reproduces the conditions of life in Europe as it was led by our ancestors ages before the dawn of anything that could be called civilization. The great beasts that now live in East Africa were in that by-gone age represented by close kinsfolk in Europe; and in many places, up to the present moment, African man, absolutely naked, and armed as our early paleolithic ancestors were armed, lives among, and on, and in constant dread of, these beasts, just as was true of the men to whom the cave lion was a nightmare of terror, and the mammoth . and the woolly rhinoceros possible but most formidable prey. 1 THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE sic Map of the Uj'randa Railway, British East Africa. Total length from Mombasa on the Indian Ocean to Port Florence on Lake Victoria Nyanza, 581 miles This region, this great fragment out of the long-buried past of our race, is now accessible by railroad to all who care to go thither; and no field more inviting offers itself to hunter or naturalist, while even to the ordinary traveller it teems with interest. On March 23, 1909, I sailed thither from New York, in charge of a scientific expedition sent out by the Smithsonian, to collect birds, mammals, reptiles, and plants, but especially specimens of big game, for the National Museum at Washington. In addition to myself and my son Kermit (who had entered Harvard a few months previously), the party consisted of three naturalists: Surgeon-Lieut. Col. Edgar A. Mearns, U.S.A., retired; Mr. Edmund Heller, of California, and Mr. J. Alden Loring, of Owego, N. Y. My arrangements for the trip had been chiefly made through two valued English friends, Mr. Frederick Courteney Selous, the greatest of the world's big-game hunters, and Mr. Edward North Buxton, also a mighty hunter. On landing we were to be met by Messrs. R. J. Cuninghame and Leslie Tarlton, both famous hunt- 4 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ers; the latter an Australian, who served through the South African war; the former by birth a Scotchman, and a Cam- bridge man, but long a resident of Africa, and at one time a professional elephant hunter — in addition to having been a whaler in the Arctic Ocean, a hunter-naturalist in Lap- land, a transport rider in South Africa, and a collector for the British Museum in various odd corners of the earth. We sailed on the Hamburg from New York — what head- way the Germans have made among those who go down to the sea in ships! — and at Naples trans-shipped to the Admiral, of another German line, the East African. On both ships we were as comfortable as possible, and the voyage was wholly devoid of incidents. Now and then, as at the Azores, at Suez, and at Aden, the three naturalists landed, and collected some dozens or scores of birds — which next day were skinned and prepared in my room, as the largest and best fitted for the purpose. After reaching Suez the ordinary tourist type of passenger ceased to be predomi- nant; in his place there were Italian officers going out to a desolate coast town On the edge of Somaliland; mission- aries, German, English, and American; Portuguese civil officials; traders of different nationalities; and planters and military and civil officers bound to German and British East Africa. The Englishmen included planters, magis- trates, forest officials, army officers on leave from India, and other army officers going out to take command of black native levies in out-of-the-way regions where the English flag stands for all that makes life worth living. They were a fine set, these young Englishmen, whether dashing army officers or capable civilians; they reminded me of our own men who have reflected such honor on the American name, whether in civil and military positions in the Philippines and Porto Rico, working on the Canal Zone in Panama, taking care of the custom-houses in San Domingo, or serving in the army of occupation in Cuba. Moreover, I felt as if I knew most of them already, for they might have walked out of the pages of Kipling. But I was not as well prepared for THROUCxH THE PLEISTOCENE 5 the corresponding and equally interesting types among the Germans, the planters, the civil officials, the officers who had commanded, or were about to command, white or na- tive troops; men of evident power and energy, seeing whom made it easy to understand why German East Africa has We would gather on deck around Selous to listen to tales of strange adventures From tt photograph by Kcrinit Roosevelt thriven apace. They are first-class men, these English and Germans; both are doing in East Africa a work of worth to the whole world; there is ample room for both, and no possible cause for any but a thoroughly friendly rivalry; and it is earnestly to be wished, in the interest both of them and of outsiders, too, that their relations will grow, as they ought to grow, steadily better — and not only in East Africa but everywhere else. On the ship, at Naples, we found Selous, also bound for East Africa on a hunting trip; but he, a veteran whose first hunting in Africa was nearly forty years ago, cared only for exceptional trophies of a very few animals, while we, on the other hand, desired specimens of both sexes of all the species of big game that Kermit and I could shoot, as well AFRICAN GAME TRAILS as complete series of all the smaller mammals. We be- lieved that our best work of a purely scientific character would be done with the mammals, both large and small. No other hunter alive has had the experience of Selous; and, so far as I now recall, no hunter of anything like his A baobab- tree, Mombasa From a photograph by Kertnit Roosevelt experience has ever also possessed his gift of penetrating observation joined to his power of vivid and accurate nar- ration. He has killed scores of lion and rhinoceros and hundreds of elephant and buffalo; and these four animals are the most dangerous of the world's big game, when hunted as they are hunted in Africa. To hear him tell of what he has seen and done is no less interesting to a nat- uralist than to a hunter. There were on the ship many THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 7 men who loved wild nature, and who were keen hunters of big game; and almost every day, as we steamed over the hot, smooth waters of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, we would gather on deck around Selous to listen to tales of those strange adventures that only come to the man who has lived long the lonely life of the wilderness. Kermit Roosevelt and R. J. Cuninghame preparing to take pictures On April 21 we steamed into the beautiful and pictu- resque harbor of Mombasa. Many centuries before the Christian era, dhows from Arabia, carrying seafarers of Semitic races whose very names have perished, rounded the Lion's Head at Guardafui and crept slowly southward along the barren African coast. Such dhows exist to-day almost unchanged, and bold indeed were the men who first steered them across the unknown oceans. They were men of iron heart and supple conscience, who fronted inconceiv- AFRICAN GAME TRAILS able danger and hardship; they estabhshed trading stations for gold and ivory and slaves; they turned these trading stations into little cities and sultanates, half Arab, half negro. Mombasa was among them. In her time of brief splendor Portugal seized the city; the Arabs won it back ; and now Eng- land holds it. It lies just south of the equator, and when we saw it the brilliant green of the tropic foliage showed the town at its best. We were welcomed to Government House in most cordial fash- ion by the acting Gov- ernor, Lieutenant- Governor Jackson, who is not only a trained public official of long experience but a first- class field naturalist and a renowned big- game hunter; indeed I could not too warmly express my apprecia- tion of the hearty and generous courtesy with which we were received and treated alike by the official and the unofficial world' throughout East Africa. We landed in the kind of torren- tial downpour that only comes in the tropics; it reminded me of Panama at certain moments in the rainy season. That night we were given a dinner by the Mombasa Club; and it was interesting to meet the merchants and planters of the town and the neighborhood as well as the officials. V. (_■. Selous /•"row rt fihotosraph by 11'. N. McMillan THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE The former included not only Englishmen but also Ger- mans and Italians; which is quite as it should be, for at least part of the high inland region of British East Africa can be made one kind of "white man's coun- try"; and to achieve this white men should work heartily together, doing scrupulous jus- tice to the natives, but remembering that progress and develop- ment in this particular kind of new land de- pend exclusively upon the masterful leader- ship of the whites, and that therefore it is both a calamity and a crime to permit the whites to be riven in sunder by hatreds and jealousies. The coast regions of British East Africa are not suited for extensive white settlement ; but the hinterland is, and there everything should be done to en- courage such settle- ment. Non-white aliens should not be encouraged to settle where they come into rivalry with the whites (exception being made as regards certain particular individuals and certain particular occupations). There are, of course, large regions on the coast and in R. J. Cuninghame, known to the Swahilis as "Bwana Medivu," the master with the beard From a photograph by Edmund Heller 10 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS the interior where ordinary white settlers cannot Hve, in which it would be wise to settle immigrants from India, and there are many positions in other regions which it is to the advantage of everybody that the Indians should hold, be- cause there is as yet no sign that sufficient numbers of white men are willing to hold them, while the native blacks, although many of them do fairly well in unskilled labor, are not yet competent to do the higher tasks which now fall to the share of the Goanese, and Moslem and non-Moslem Indians. The small merchants who deal with the natives, for instance, and most of the minor railroad officials, belong to these latter classes. I was amused, by the way, at one bit of native nomenclature in connection with the Goanese. Many of the Goanese are now as dark as most of the other Indians; but they are descended in the male line from the early Portuguese adventurers and conquerors, who were the first white men ever seen by the natives of this coast. Ac- cordingly to this day some of the natives speak even of the dark-skinned descendants of the subjects of King Henry the Navigator as "the whites," designating the Europeans spe- cifically as English, Germans, or the like; just as in out-of- the-way nooks in the far Northwest one of our own red men will occasionally be found who still speaks of Americans and Englishmen as "Boston men" and "King George's men." One of the government farms was being run by an edu- cated colored man from Jamaica; and we were shown much courtesy by a colored man from our own country who was practising as a doctor. No one could fail to be impressed with the immense advance these men represented as com- pared with the native negro; and indeed to an American, who must necessarily think much of the race problem at home, it is pleasant to be made to realize in vivid fashion the progress the American negro has made, by comparing him with the negro who dwells in Africa untouched, or but lightly touched, by white influence. In such a community as one finds in Mombasa or Nairobi one continually runs across quiet, modest men whose lives THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 11 have been fuller of wild adventure than the life of a viking leader of the ninth century. One of the public officials whom I met at the Governor's table was Major Hinde. H: had at one time served under the government of the Congo Free State; and, at a crisis in the fortunes of the Mr. Roosevelt saying good-by in the Mombasa station From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt State, when the Arab slave-traders bade fair to get the upper hand, he was one of the eight or ten white men, repre- senting half as many distinct nationalities, who overthrew the savage soldiery of the slave-traders and shattered beyond recovery the Arab power. They organized the wild pagan tribes just as their Arab foes had done; they fought in a land where deadly sickness struck down victor and van- quished with ruthless impartiality; they found their com- 12 AFRICAN (;AME TRAILS missariat as best they could wherever they happened to be; often they depended upon one day's victory to furnish the ammunition with which to wage the morrow-'s battle; and ever they had to be on guard no less against the thousands of cannibals in their own ranks than against the thousands of cannibals in the hostile' ranks, for, on whichever side they fought, after every battle the warriors of the man-eating tribes watched their chance to butcher the wounded indis- criminately and to feast on the bodies of the slain. The most thrilling book of true lion stories ever written is Colonel Patterson's "The Man-eaters of Tsavo." Colonel Patterson was one of the engineers engaged, some ten or twelve years back, in building the Uganda Railway; he was in charge of the work, at a place called Tsavo, when it was brought to a complete halt by the ravages of a couple of man-eating lions which, after many adventures, he finally killed. At the dinner at the Mombasa Club I met one of the actors in a blood-curdling tragedy which Colonel Patter- son relates. He was a German, and, in company with an Italian friend, he went down in the special car of one of the English railroad officials to try to kill a man-eating lion which had carried away several people from a station on the line. They put the car on a siding; as it was hot the door was left open, and the Englishman sat by the open window to watch for the lion, while the Italian finally lay down on the floor and the German got into an upper bunk. Evi- dently the Englishman must have fallen asleep, and the lion, seeing him through the window, entered the carriage by the door to get at him. The Italian waked to find the lion standing on him with its hind feet, while its fore paws were on the seat as it killed the unfortunate Englishman, and the German, my informant, hearing the disturbance, leaped out of his bunk actually onto the back of the lion. The man-eater, however, was occupied only with his prey; holding the body in his mouth he forced his way out through the window- sash, and made his meal undisturbed but a couple of hundred yards from the railway carriage. THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 13 The day after we landed we boarded the train to take what seems to me, as I think it would to most men fond of natural history, the most interesting railway journey in the world. It was Governor Jackson's special train, and in addi- tion to his own party and ours there was only Selous; and we travelled with the utmost comfort through a naturalist's wonderland. All civilized governments are now realizing that it is their duty here and there to preserve, unharmed. Train on the Uj^anda Railway • From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt tracts of wild nature, with thereon the wild things the de- struction of which means the destruction of half the charm of wild nature. The EngHsh Government has made a large game reserve of much of the region on the way to Nairobi, stretching far to the south, arid one mile to the north, of the track. The reserve swarms with game; it would be of little value except as a reserve; and the attraction it now offers to travellers renders it an asset of real consequence to the whole colony. The wise people of Maine, in our own country, have discovered that intelligent game preservation, carried out in good faith, and in a spirit of common-sense as 14 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS far removed from mushy sentimentality as from brutality, results in adding one more to the State's natural resources of value; and in consequence there are more moose and deer in Maine to-day than there were forty years ago; there is a better chance for every man m Maine, rich or poor, pro- vided that he is not a game butcher, to enjoy his share of good hunting; and the number of sportsmen and tourists attracted to the State adds very appreciably to the means of livelihood of the citizen. Game reserves should not be established where they are detrimental to the interests of large bodies of settlers, nor yet should they be nominally established in regions so remote that the only men really interfered with are those who respect the law, while a pre- mium is thereby put on the activity of the unscrupulous persons who are eager to break it. Similarly, game laws should be drawn primarily in the interest of the whole people, keeping steadily in mind certain facts that ought to be self-evident to every one above the intellectual level of those well-meaning persons who apparently think that all shooting is wrong and that man could continue to exist if all wild animals were allowed to increase unchecked. There must be recognition of the fact that almost any wild animal of the defenceless type, if its multiplication were unchecked while its natural enemies, the dangerous carni- vores, were killed, would by its simple increase crowd man off the planet; and of the further fact that, far short of such increase, a time speedily comes when the existence of too much game is incompatible with the interests, or indeed the existence, of the cultivator. As in most other matters, it is only the happy mean which is healthy and rational. There should be certain sanctuaries and nurseries where game can live and breed absolutely unmolested; and else- where the laws should so far as possible provide for the continued existence of the game in sufficient numbers to allow a reasonable amount of hunting on fair terms to any hardy and vigorous man fond of the sport, and yet not in sufficient numbers to jeopard the interests of the actual I THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 15 settler, the tiller of the soil, the man whose well-being should be the prime object to be kept in mind by every statesman. Game butchery is as objectionable as any Mr. Roosevelt, Governor Jackson, Mr. Selous, and Dr. Mearns, riding in front of the engine on the way to Kapiti From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt other form of wanton cruelty or barbarity; but to protest against all hunting of game is a sign of softness of head, not of soundness of heart. 16 AFRICAN CxAME TRAILS In the creation of the great game reserve through which the Uganda Railway runs the British Government has conferred a boon upon mankind, and no less in the enact- ment and enforcement of the game laws in the African provinces generally. Of course experience will show where, from time to time, there must be changes. In Uganda proper buffaloes and hippos throve so under protection as to become sources of grave danger not only to the crops but to the lives of the natives, and they had to be taken off the protected list and classed as vermin, to be shot in any num- ber at any time; and only the great demand for ivory prevented the necessity of following the same course with regard to the elephant; while recently in British East Africa the increase of the zebras, and the harm they did to the crops of the settlers, rendered it necessary to remove a large measure of the protection formerly accorded them, and in some cases actually to encourage their slaughter; and increase in settlement may necessitate further changes. But, speaking generally, much wisdom and foresight, highly creditable to both, government and people, have been shown in dealing with and preserving East African game while at the same time safeguarding the interests of the settlers. On our train the locomotive was fitted with a comfort- able seat across the cow-catcher, and on this, except at meal- time, I spent most of the hours of daylight, usually in com- pany with Selous, and often with Governor Jackson, to whom the territory and the game were alike familiar. The first afternoon we did not see many wild animals, but birds abounded, and the scenery was both beautiful and interest- ing. A black-and-white hornbill, feeding on the track, rose so late that we nearly caught it with our hands; guinea-fowl and francolin, and occasionally bustard, rose near by; brill- iant rollers, sun-birds, bee-eaters, and weaver-birds flew beside us, or sat unmoved among the trees as. the train passed. In the dusk we nearly ran over a hyena; a year or two previously the train actually did run over a lioness Mr. Roosevelt and some members of his caravan Front a photograph by Kcriiiit Roosevelt 18 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS one night, and the conductor brought in her head in triumph. In fact, there have been continual mishaps such as could only happen to a railroad in the Pleistocene! The very night we went up there was an interruption in the telegraph service due to giraffes having knocked down some of the wires and a pole in crossing the track; and elephants have more than once performed the same feat. Two or three times, at night, giraffes have been run into and killed; once a rhinoceros was killed, the engine being damaged in the encounter; and on other occasions the rhino has only just left the track in time, once the beast being struck and a good deal hurt, the engine again being somewhat crippled. But the lions now offer, and have always offered, the chief source of unpleasant excitement. Throughout East Africa the lions continually take to man-eating at the expense of the native tribes, and white hunters are continually being killed or crippled by them. At the lonely stations on the railroad the two or three subordinate officials often live in terror of some fearsome brute that has taken to haunting the vicinity; and every few months, at some one of these stations, a man is killed, or badly hurt by, or narrowly escapes from, a prowling lion. The stations at which the train stopped were neat and attractive; and besides the Indian officials there were usually natives from the neighborhood. Some of these might be dressed in the fez and shirt and trousers which indicate a coming under the white man's influence, or which, rather curiously, may also indicate Mohammedan- ism. But most of the natives are still wild pagans, and many of them are unchanged in the slightest particular from what their forefathers were during the countless ages when they alone were the heirs of the land — a land which they were utterly powerless in any way to improve. Some of the savages we saw wore red blankets, and in deference to white prejudice draped them so as to hide their naked- ness. But others appeared — men and women — with liter- ally not one stitch of clothing, although they might have THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 19 rather elaborate haif-dresses, and masses of metal ornaments on their arms and legs. In the region where one tribe dwelt all the people had their front teeth filed to sharp points; it was strange to see a group of these savages, stark naked, with oddly shaved heads and filed teeth, armed with primitive bows and arrows^ stand gravely gazing at the train as it rolled into some station; and none the less strange, by the way, because the locomotive was a Bald- win, brought to Africa across the great ocean from our own country. One group of women, nearly nude, had their upper arms so tightly bound with masses of bronze or cop- per wire that their muscles were completely malformed. So tightly was the wire wrapped round the upper third of the upper arm, that it was reduced to about one-half of its normal size; and the muscles could only play, and that in deformed fashion, below this unyielding metal bandage. Why the arms did not mortify it was hard to say; and their freedom of use was so hampered as to make it diflficult to understand how men or women whose whole lives are passed in one or another form of manual labor could inflict upon themselves such crippling and pointless punishment. Next morning we were in the game country, and as we sat on the seat over the cow-catcher it was literally like passing through a vast zoological garden. Indeed no such railway journey can be taken on any other line in any other land. At one time we passed a herd of a dozen or so of great giraffes, cows and calves, cantering along through the open woods a couple of hundred yards to the right of the train. Again, still closer, four waterbuck cows, their big ears thrown forward, stared at us without moving until we had passed. Hartebeests were everywhere; one herd was on the track, and when the engine whistled they bucked and sprang with ungainly agility and galloped clear of the danger. A long-tailed straw-colored monkey ran from one tree to another. Huge black ostriches appeared from time to time. Once a troop of impalla, close by the track, took fright; and as the beautiful creatures fled we saw now ^) AFRICAN (,AME i RAILS one and now anotlier bound clear over the high bushes. A herd of zebra clattered across a cutting of the line not a hundred yards ahead of the train; the whistle hurried their progress, but only for a moment, and as we passed they were already turning round to gaze. The wild creatures were in their sanctuary, and they knew it. Some of the settlers have at times grumbled at this game reserve being kept of such size; but surely it is one of the most valuable possessions the country could have. The lack of water in parts, the prevalence in other parts of diseases harmful to both civilized man and domestic cattle, render this great tract of country the home of all homes for the creatures of the waste. The protection given these wild creatures is genuine, not nominal; they are preserved, not for the pleasure of the few, but for the good of all who choose to see this strange and attractive spectacle; and from this nur- sery and breeding-ground the overflow keeps up tlie stock of game in the adjacent land, to the benefit of the settler to whom the game gives fresh meat, and to the benefit of the w hole country because of the attraction it furnishes to all who desire to visit a veritable happy hunting ground. Soon after lunch we drew up at the little station of Kapiti Plains, where our safari was awaiting us; "safari" being the term employed throughout East Africa to denote both the caravan with which one makes an expedition and the expedition itself. Our aim being to cure and send home specimens of all the common big game — in addition to as large a series as possible of the small mammals and birds — it was necessary to carry an elaborate apparatus of naturalists' supplies; we had brought with us, for instance, four tons of fine salt, as to cure the skins of the big beasts is a herculean labor under the best conditions; we had hundreds of traps for the small creatures; many boxes of shot-gun cartridges in addition to the ordinary rifle cartridges which alone would be necessary on a hunting trip; and, in short, all the many impedimenta needed if scientific work is to be properly done under modern con- THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 21 ditions. Few laym'en have any idea of the expense and pains which must be undergone in order to provide groups of mounted big animals from far-off lands, such as we see A large American IIul; \v:i^ lloaUiiij '>\'fv my "wn triit From a photog7-aph hy Kirmit Roosevelt in museums like the National Museum in Washington and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The modern naturalist must realize that in some of Its branches his profession, while more than ever a science, has also become an art. So our preparations were neces- 22 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS sarily on a very large scale; and as we drew up at the station the array of porters and of tents looked as if some small military expedition was about to start. As a compliment, which I much appreciated, a large American flag was float- ing over my own tent; and in the front line, flanking this tent on either hand, were other big tents for the members of the party, with a dining tent and skinning tent; while be- hind were the tents of the two hundred porters, the gun- The askaris aiul [)urlt'rs dra«ii In front of the tent stood the men in two lines; the first containing the From a filwtog raph bearers, the tent boys, the askaris or native soldiers, and the horse boys or saises. In front of the tents stood the men in two lines; the first containing the fifteen askaris, the second the porters with their headmen. The askaris were uniformed, each in a red fez, a blue blouse, and white knickerbockers, and each carrying his rifle and belt. The porters were chosen from several different tribes or races to minimize the danger of combination in the event of mutiny. Here and there in East Africa one can utilize ox wagons, or pack trains of donkeys; but for a considerable expedition it is still best to use a safari of native porters, of the type by which the commerce and exploration of the country have THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 23 always been carried on. The backbone of such a safari is generally composed of Swahili, the coast men, negroes who have acquired the Moslem religion, together with a partially Arabicized tongue and a strain of Arab blood from the Arab warriors and traders who have been dominant in the coast towns for so many centuries. It was these Swahili trading caravans, under Arab leadership, which, in their quest for ivory and slaves, trod out the routes which the up in line to greet us fifteen askaris, the second the porters with their headmen by Ed)iiu)ul Heller early white explorers followed. Without their work as a preliminary the work of the white explorers could not have been done; and it was the Swahili porters themselves who rendered this work itself possible. To this day every hunter, trader, missionary, or explorer must use either a Swahili safari or one modelled on the Swahili basis. The part played by the white-topped ox wagon in the history of South Africa, and by the camel caravan in North Africa, has been played in middle Africa by the files of strong, patient, childlike savages, who have borne the burdens of so many masters and employers hither and thither, through and across, the dark heart of the continent. 21 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Equatorial Africa is in most places none too healthy a place for the white man, and he must care for himself as he would scorn to do in the lands of pine and birch and frosty weather. Camping in the Rockies or the North Woods can with advantage be combined with "roughing it"; and the early pioneers of the West, the explorers, prospectors, and hunters, who always roughed it, were as hardy as bears, and lived to a hale old age, if Indians and accidents per- Our first camp, Kapiti Plains station, on a bare, dry From a photograph mitted. But in tropic Africa a lamentable proportion of the early explorers paid in health or life for the hardships they endured; and throughout most of the country no man can long rough it, in the Western and Northern sense, with impunity. At Kapiti Plains our tents, our accommodations gener- ally, seemed almost too comfortable for men who knew camp life only on the Great Plains, in the Rockies, and in the North Woods. My tent had a fly which was to protect it from the great heat; there was a little rear extension In which I bathed — a hot bath, never a cold bath, is almost a tropic necessity; there was a ground canvas, of vital mo- THROUGH THE PLEIST0CP:NE 25 ment in a land of ticks, jiggers, and scorpions; and a cot to sleep on, so as to be raised from the ground. Quite a contrast to life on the round-up! Then I had two tent boys to see after my belongings, and to wait at table as well as in the tent. Ali, a Mohammedan mulatto (Arab and negro), was the chief of the two, and spoke some English, while under him was "Bill," a speechless black boy; Ali being particularly faithful and efficient. Two other Moham- plain covered with brown and withered grass by Edmund Heller medan negroes, clad like the askaris, reported to me as my gun-bearers, Muhamed and Bakari; seemingly excellent men, loyal and enduring, no trackers, but with keen eyes for game, and the former speaking a little English. My two horse boys, or saises, were both pagans. One, Hamisi, must have had in his veins Galla or other non-negro blood; derived from the Hamitic, or bastard Semitic, or at least non-negro, tribes which, pushing slowly and fitfully south- ward and south-westward among the negro peoples, have created an intricate tangle of ethnic and linguistic types from the middle Nile to far south of the equator. Hamisi always wore a long feather in one of his sandals, the only 26 AFRICAN GA^IE TRAILS ornament he affected. The other sais was a silent, gentle- mannered black heathen; his name was Simba, a lion, and as I shall later show he was not unworthy of it. The two horses for which these men cared were stout, quiet little beasts; one, a sorrel, I named Tranquillity, and the other, a brown, had so much the coblike build of a zebra that we christened him Zebra-shape. One of Kermit's two horses, by the way, was more romantically named after Huandaw, the sharp-eared steed of the Mabinogion. Cun- inghame, lean, sinewy, bearded, exactly the type of hunter and safari manager that one would wish for such an ex- pedition as ours, had ridden up with us on the train, and at the station we met Tarlton, and also two settlers of the neighborhood. Sir Alfred Pease and Mr. Clifford Hill. Hill was an Africander. He and his cousin, Harold Hill, after serving through the South African war, had come to the new country of British East Africa to settle, and they represented the ideal type of settler for taking the lead in the spread of empire. They were descended from the English colonists who came to South Africa in 1820; they had never been in England, and neither had Tarlton. It was exceed- ingly interesting to meet these Australians and Africanders, who typified in their lives and deeds the greatness of the English Empire, and yet had never seen England. As for Sir Alfred, Kermit and I were to be his guests for the next fortnight, and we owe primarily to him, to his mastery of hunting craft, and his unvarying and generous hospitality and kindness, the pleasure and success of our introduction to African hunting. His life had been one of such varied interest as has only been possible in our own generation. He had served many years in Parliament; he had for some years been a magistrate in a peculiarly re- sponsible post in the Transvaal; he had journeyed and hunted and explored in the northern Sahara, in the Soudan, in Somaliland, in Abyssinia; and now he was ranching in East Africa. A singularly good rider and one of the best game shots I have ever seen, it would have been impossible I THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 27 to have found a kinder host or a hunter better fitted to teach us how to begin our work with African big game. At Kapiti station there was httle beyond the station buildings, a "compound" or square enclosure in which there were many natives, and an Indian store. The last was presided over by a turbaned Mussulman, the agent of other Indian traders who did business in Machakos-boma, I'orters and their tents From a photograph by J. A Iden Loring a native village a dozen miles distant; the means of com- munication being two-wheeled carts, each drawn by four humped oxen, driven by a wellnigh naked savage. For forty-eight hours we were busy arranging our out- fit; and the naturalists took much longer. The provisions were those usually included in an African hunting or ex- ploring trip, save that, in memory of my days in the West, I included in each provision box a few cans of Boston baked beans, California peaches, and tomatoes. We had plenty 28 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS of warm bedding, for the nights are cold at high ahitudes, even under the equator. While hunting I wore heavy shoes, with hobnails or rubber soles; khaki trousers, the knees faced with leather, and the legs buttoning tight from the knee to below the ankle, to avoid the need of leggings; a khaki-colored army shirt; and a sun helmet, which I wore in deference to local advice, instead of my beloved and far more convenient slouch hat. My rifles were an army Springfield, 30-calibre, stocked and sighted to suit myself; a Winchester 405; and a double-barrelled 500-450 Holland, a beautiful weapon presented to me by some English friends.* Kermit's battery was of the same type, except that in- stead of a Springfield he had another Winchester shooting the army ammunition, and his double-barrel was a Rigby. In addition I had a Fox No. 12 shot-gun; no better gun was ever made. There was one other bit of impedimenta, less usual for African travel, but perhaps almost as essential for real en- joyment even on a h-unting trip, if it is to be of any length. * Mr. E. N. Buxton took the lead in the matter when he heard that I intended making a trip after big game in Africa. I received the rifle at the White House, while I was President. Inside the case was the following hst of donors: LIST OF ZOOLOGISTS AND SPORTSMEN WHO ARE DONORS OF A DOUBLE ELEPHANT RIFLE TO THE HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT U. S. A. IX RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATIONAL PARKS AND FOREST RESERVES, AND BY OTHER MEANS E. N. Buxton, Esq. Rt. Hon. Lord Avebury, D.C.L. ("The Pleasures of Life," etc.) Major-Gen. Sir F. Reginald Wingate, K.C.B. (Governor-General of thfi Soudan.) Sir Edmund G. Loder, Bart. Hon. N. C. Rothschild. The Earl of Lonsd.\le. (Master of Hounds.) Sir R. G. H.a.rvey, Bart. The Rt. Hon. Lord Curzon of Kedleston, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. St. George Littledale, Esq. Dr. p. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., F.Z.S. (Secretary of the Zoological Soc.) C. E. Green, Esq. (Master of Essex Hounds.) I THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE i^j) This was the "Pigskin Library," so called because most of the books were bound in pigskin. They were carried in a light aluminum and oil-cloth case, which, with its con- tents, weighed a little less than sixty pounds, making a load for one porter. Including a few volumes carried in the various bags, so that I might be sure always to have one with me, and Gregorovius, read on the voyage outward, the list was as printed in Appendix F. It represents in part Kermit's taste, in part mine; and, I need hardly say, it also represents in no way all the books we most care for, but merely those which, for one reason or another, we thought we should like to take on this par- ticular trip. I used my Whitman tree army saddle and my army field-glasses; but, in addition, for studying the habits of the game, I carried a telescope given me on the boat by a fellow-traveller and big-game hunter, an Irish hussar cap- tain from India — and incidentally I am out in my guess if this same Irish hussar captain be not worth watching should his country ever again be engaged in war. I had F. C. Selous, Esq. ("A Hunter's Wanderings," etc.) CouxT Bllxher. Lieut. -Col. C. Delme R.adcliffe, C.M.G., M.V'.O. Maurice Egertox, Esq. Lord Desborough, C.V.O. C.^PTAix ^L McNeill. Claude H. Tritton, Esq. J. Turner-Turner, Esq. Hon. L. W. Rothschild, ^LI^ Rt. Hon. Sir E. Grey, Bart., M.P. (Foreign Secretary and author of "Dry Fly Fishing.") Sir M. de C. Findlay, C.M.G. (British Minister at Dresden.) C. Phillipps-Wolley, Esq., P'.R.G.S. ("Sport in the Caucasus.") Rt. Hon. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Bart., D.C.L. ("The American Revolution.") Warburton Pike, Esq. Sir Wm. E. Garstin, G.C.M.G. His Gr.ace the Duke of Bedford, K.G. ("A Great Estate.") Her Gr.a^ce the Duchess of Bedford. Lord Brassey, G.C.B., ^LV.O. (Owner of The Sunbeam.) Hon. T. a. Br.\ssey. (Editor of the Naval Annual.) Rhys Williams, Esq. Major-Gen. A. A. A. Kinloch, C.B. ("Large Game in Thibet.") 30 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS a very ingenious beam or scale for weighing game, designed and presented to me by my friend, Mr, Thompson Seton. I had a sHcker for wet weather, an army overcoat, and a mackinaw jacket for cold, if I had to stay out overnight in the mountains. In my pockets I carried, of course, a knife, a compass, and a water-proof match-box. Finally, just be- fore leaving home, I had been sent, for good luck, a gold- mounted rabbit's foot, by Mr. John L. Sullivan, at one time ring champion of the world. Our camp was on a bare, dry plain, covered with brown and withered grass. At most hours of the day we could see round about, perhaps a mile or so distant, or less, the game feeding. South of the track the reserve stretched for a long distance; north it went for but a mile, just enough to prevent thoughtless or cruel people from shooting as they went by in the train. There was very little water; what we drank, by the way, was carefully boiled. The drawback Sir Wm. Lee-Warner, K. C.S.I. ("The Protected Princes of India.") The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of London. Major-Gen. Dalrymple White. Colonel Claude Cane. Rt. Hon. Sydney Buxton, M.P. (Postmaster General, "Fishing and Shooting.") Major C. E. Radclyffe, D.S.O. Sir a. E. Pease, Bart. ("Cleveland Hounds.") Sir H. H. Johnston, K.C.B., G.C.M.G. ("The Uganda Protectorate.") Abel Chapman, Esq. ("Wild Spain.") J. G. MiLLAis, Esq., F.Z.S. ("A Breath from the Veldt.") E. Lort-Phillips, Esq. (Author of ornithological works.) R. Kearton, Esq., F.Z.S. ("Wild Nature's Ways.") J. H. Gurney, Esq., F.Z.S. (Works on ornithology.) F. J. Jackson, C.B., C.M.G., Lieut.-Governor East African Protectorate. ("Big Game," Badminton Library.) CoL. Sir F. Lugard, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O. Lady Lugard. ("A Tropical Dependency.") Sir Clement L. Hill, K.C.B., M.P. (Late Head of the African Department; Foreign O.) Sir H. Seton-Karr, M.P., C.M.G. ("My Sporting Holidays.") Captain Boyd Alexander. ("From the Niger to the Nile.") Sir J. Kirk, K.C.B., G.C.M.G. (Dr. Livingstone's companion, 1858-64.) Moreton Frewen, Esq. The Earl of Warwick. P. L. Sclater, Esq., D.Sc, Ph.D. (Late Sec. Zool. Soc.) Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. ("The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.") THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 31 to the camp, and to 'all this plains region, lay in the ticks, which swarmed, and were a scourge to man and beast. Every evening the saises picked them by hundreds off each horse; and some of our party were at times so bitten by the noisome little creatures that they could hardly sleep at night, and in one or two cases the man was actually laid up for a couple of days; and two of our horses ultimately got tick fever, but recovered. In mid-afternoon of our third day in this camp we at last had matters in such shape that Kermit and I could My first " tommy '' (Thomson's gazellej From a photograph by Edviuiid Heller begin our hunting; and forth we rode, he with Hill, I with Sir Alfred, each accompanied by his gun-bearers and sais, and by a few porters to carry in the game. For two or three miles our little horses shuffled steadily northward across the desolate flats of short grass until the ground began to rise here and there into low hills, or koppies, with rock-strewn tops. It should have been the rainy season, the season of "the big rains"; but the rains were late, as the parched desolation of the landscape bore witness; nev- ertheless there were two or three showers that afternoon. We soon began to see game, but the flatness of the country and the absence of all cover made stalking a matter of difli- 32 AFRICAN CxAME TRAILS culty; the only bushes were a few sparsely scattered mimo- sas; stunted things, two or three feet high, scantily leaved, but abounding in bulbous swellings on the twigs, and in long, sharp spikes of thorns. There were herds of harte- beest and wildebeest, and smaller parties of beautiful ga- zelles. The last were of two kinds, named severally after their discoverers, the explorers Grant and Thomson; many of the creatures of this region commemorate the men — Schilling, Jackson, Neuman, Kirke, Chanler, Abbot — ■ who first saw and hunted them and brought them to the notice of the scientific world. The Thomson's gazelles, or Tommies as they are always locally called, are pretty, alert little things, half the size of our prongbuck; their big- brothers, the Grant's, are among the most beautiful of all antelopes, being rather larger than a whitetail deer, with singularly graceful carriage, while the old bucks carry long lyre-shaped horns. Distances are deceptive on the bare plains under the African sunlight. I saw a fine Grant, and stalked him in a rain squall; but. the bullets from the little Springfield fell short as he raced away to safety; I had underestimated the range. Then I shot, for the table, a good buck of the smaller gazelle, at two hundred and twenty-five yards; the bullet went a little high, breaking his back above the shoulders. But what I really wanted were two good specimens, bull and cow, of the wildebeest. These powerful, ungainly beasts^ a variety of the brindled gnu or blue wildebeest of South Africa, are interesting creatures of queer, eccentric habits. With their shaggy manes, heavy forequarters, and generally bovine look, they remind one somewhat of our bison, at a distance, but of course they are much less bulky, a big old bull in prime condition rarely reaching a weight of seven hundred pounds. They are beasts of the open plains, ever alert and wary; the cows, with their calves, and one or more herd bulls, keep in parties of several score; the old bulls, singly, or two or three together, keep by themselves, A herd of zebra and hartebeest One of the interesting features of African wild life is the close association and companionship so often seen between two totally different species of game From photoiiraphs !/ 5() AFRICAN (JAME TRAILS caused it to lose all its distinctive character — that is, all the quality which could possibly make it protective. Near by it is always very conspicuous, and if the conditions are such that any animal can be seen at all, a zebra will catch the eye much more quickly than a Grant's gazelle, for in- stance. These gazelles, by the way, although much less conspicuously colored than the zebra, bear when young, and the females even when adult, the dark side stripe which characterizes all sexes and ages of the smaller gazelle, the tommy; it is a very conspicuous marking, quite inexplicable on any theory of protective coloration. The truth is that no game of the plains is helped in any way by its coloration in evading its foes and none seeks to escape the vision of its foes. The larger game animals of the plains are always walking and standing in conspicuous places, and never seek to hide or take advantage of cover; while, on the contrary, the little grass and bush antelopes, like the duiker and steinbuck, trust very much to their power of hiding, and endeavor to escape the sight of their foes by lying absolutely still, in the hope of not being made out against their background. On the plains one sees the wildebeest farthest off and with most ease; the zebra and hartebeest next; the gazelles last. The wildebeest are very wary. While the hunter is still a long way off the animal will stop grazing and stand with head raised, the heavy shoulders and short neck mak- ing it unmistakable. Then, when it makes up its mind to allow no closer approach, it brandishes its long tail, springs and plunges, runs once or twice in semicircles, and is off, the head held much lower than the shoulders, the tail still lashing; and now and then a bull may toss up the dust with its horns. The herds of cows and calves usually con- tain one or two or more bulls; and in addition, dotted here and there over the plain, are single bulls or small parties of bulls, usually past their prime or not yet full grown. These bulls are often found in the company of hartebeests or zebras; and stray zebras and hartebeests are often found G ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH .57 with the wildebeest herds. The stomachs of those I opened contained nothing but grass; they are grazers, not browsers. The hartebeest are much faster, and if really frightened speedily leave their clumsy-looking friends behind; but the wildebeest, as I have seen them, are by far the most wary. The wildebeest and zebra seemed to me to lie down less freely than the hartebeest; but I frequently came on herds of both lying down during the heat of the day. Some- times part of the herd will stand drowsily erect and the rest lie down. Near Kitanga there were three wildebeest which were usually found with a big herd of hartebeest, and which regularly every afternoon lay down for some hours, just as their friends did. The animal has a very bovine look; and though called an antelope it is quite as close kin to the oxen as it is to many of the other beasts also called antelope. The fact is that antelope is not an exact term at all, but merely means any hollow-horned ruminant which the observer happens to think is not a sheep, goat, or ox. When, with Linnaeus, the first serious effort at the systematization of living nature began, men naturally groped in the effort to see correctly and to ex- press what they saw. When they came to describe the hollow-horned ruminants, they, of course, already had names at hand for anything that looked like one of the domestic creatures with which they were familiar; and as "antelope" was also already a name of general, though vague, currency for some wild creatures, they called every- thing an antelope that did not seem to come in one of the more familiar domestic categories. Study has shown that sheep and goats grade into one another among the wild species; and the so-called antelopes include forms differing from one another quite as sharply as any of them differ from their kinsfolk that are represented in the farm-yard. Zebra share with hartebeest the distinction of being the most abundant game animal on the plains, throughout the whole Athi region. The two creatures are fond of as- sociating together, usually in mixed herds; but some- 58 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS times there will merely be one or two individuals of one species in a big herd of the other. They are sometimes, though less frequently than the hartebeest, found in open bush country; but they live in the open plains by choice. I could not find out that they had fixed times for rest- ing, feeding, and going to water. They and the harte- beests formed the favorite prey of the numerous lions of the neighborhood; and I believe that the nights^ even the moonlight nights, were passed by both animals under a nervous strain of apprehension, ever dreading the attack of their arch enemy^ and stampeding from it. Their stam- pedes cause the utmost exasperation to the settlers for when in terror of the real or imaginary attack of a lion, their mad^ heedless rush takes them through a wire fence as if it were made of twine and pasteboard. But a few months before my arrival a mixed herd of zebra and harte- beest, stampeded either by lions or wild dogs, rushed through the streets of Nairobi, several being killed by the inhabitants, and one of the victims falling just outside the Episcopal church. The zebras are nearly pov^erless when seized by lions; but they are bold creatures against less formidable foes, trusting in their hoofs and their strong jaws; they will, when in a herd, drive off hyena or wild dogs^ and will turn on hounds^ if the hunter is net near. If the lion is abroad in the daytime, they, as well as the other game^ seem to realize that he cannot run them down; and though they follow his movements with great alertness, and keep at a respectful distance, they show no panic. Or- dinarily as I saw them they did not seem very shy of men; but in this respect all the game displayed the widest differ- ences from time to time, without any real cause, that I could discern for the difference. At one hour, or on one day the zebra and hartebeest would flee from our approach when half a mile off; and again they would permit us to come within a couple of hundred yards before moving slowly aw ay. On two or three occasions at lunch herds of zebra remained for half an hour watching us with much curiosity not over a hun- ON AN E.\ST AFRICAN UANCil 59 dred yards off. Once, when we had been vainly beating for lions at the foot of the Elukania ridge, at least a thousand zebras stood, in herds, on every side of us, throughout lunch; they were from two to four hundred yards distant, and I was especially struck by the fact that those which were to leeward and had our wind were no more alarmed than the others. I have seen them water at dawn and sun- set, and also in the middle of the day; and I have seen them grazing at every hour of the day, although I believe most freely in the morning and evening. At noon and until the late afternoon those I saw were quite apt to be resting, either standing or lying down. They are noisy. Harte- beests merely snort or sneeze now and then; but the shrill, querulous barking of the "bonte quaha," as the Boers call the zebra^ is one of the common sounds of the African plains, both by day and night. It is usually represented in books by the syllables *'qua-ha-ha"; but of course our letters and syl- lables uere not made to represent, and can only in arbitrary and conventional fashion represent, the calls of birds and mammals; the bark of the bonte quagga or common zebra could just as well be represented by the syllables "ba-wa- wa," and as a matter of fact it can readily be mistaken for the bark of a shrill-voiced dog. After one of a herd has been killed by a lion or a hunter its companions are par- ticularly apt to keep uttering their cry. Zebras are very beautiful creatures, and it was an unending pleasure to watch them. I ne\er molested them save to procure speci- mens for the museums, or food for the porters, who like their rather rank flesh. They were covered with ticks like the other game; on the groin, and many of the tender- est spots, the odious creatures were in solid clusters; yet the zebras were all in high condition, with masses of oily yellow fat. One stallion weighed six hundred and fifty pounds. The hartebeest — Coke's hartebeest, known locally by the Swahili name of kongoni— were at least as plentiful, and almost as tame as the zebras. As with the other game of equatorial Africa, we found the young of all ages; there 60 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS seems to be no especial breeding time, and no one period among the males corresponding to the rutting season among northern animals. The hartebeests were usually insepara- ble companions of the zebra; but though they were by pref- erence beasts of the bare plain, they were rather more often found in open bush than were their striped friends. There are in the country numerous ant-hills, which one sees in every stage of development, from a patch of bare earth with a few funnel-like towers, to a hillock a dozen feet high and as many yards in circumference. On these big ant- hills one or two kongoni will often post themselves as look- outs, and are then almost impossible to approach. The bulls sometimes fight hard among themselves, and although their horns are not very formidable weapons, yet I knew of one case in which a bull was killed in such a duel, his chest being ripped open by his adversary's horns; and now and then a bull will kneel and grind its face and horns into the dust or mud. Often a whole herd will gather around and on an ant-hill, or even a small patch of level ground, and make it a regular stamping ground, treading it into dust with their sharp hoofs. They have another habit which I have not seen touched on in the books. Ordinarily their droppings are scattered anywhere on the plain; but again and again I found where hartebeests — and more rarely Grant's gazelles — had in large numbers deposited their droppings for some time in one spot. Hartebeest are homely creatures, with long faces, high withers, and show- ing when first in motion a rather ungainly gait, but they are among the swiftest and most enduring of antelope, and when at speed their action is easy and regular. When pursued by a dog they will often play before him — just as a tommy will — taking great leaps, with all four legs in- clined backward, evidently in a spirit of fun and derision. In the stomachs of those I killed, as in those of the zebras, I found only grass and a few ground plants; even in the open bush or thinly wooded country they seemed to graze and not browse. One fat and heavy bull weighed 340 ON AX EAST AFRICAN RAN( H 01 pounds; a very old' bull, with horns much worn down 299; and a cow in high condition 315. The Grant's gazelle is the most beautiful of all these plains creatures; it is about the size of a big white-tail deer; one heavy buck which I shot, although with poor horns, weighed 171 pounds. The finest among the old bucks have beautiful lyre-shaped horns, over two feet long, and their Vulture raven or white-necked raven From a photograph by J. A Men Loring proud, graceful carriage and lightness of movement render them a delight to the eye. As I have already said, the young and the females have the dark side stripe which marks all the tommies; but the old bucks lack this, and their color fades into the brown or sandy of the dry plains far more completely than is the case with zebra or kongoni. Like the other game of the plains they are sometimes found in small parties, or else in fair-sized herds, by themselves, and sometimes with other beasts; I have seen a single fine buck in a herd of several hundred zebra and kongoni. The Thomson's gazelles, hardly a third the weight of their 6d AFRICAN GAME TRAILS larger kinsfolk, are found scattered everywhere; they are not as highly gregarious as the zebra and kongoni, and are not found in such big herds; but their little bands — now a buck and several does, now a couple of does with their fawns, now three or four bucks together, now a score of individuals — are scattered everywhere on the flats. Like the Grants, their flesh is delicious, and they seem to have much the same habits. But they have one very marked characteristic: their tails keep up an incessant nervous twitching^ never being still for more than a few seconds at a time, while the larger gazelle in this part of its range rarely moves its tail at all. They are grazers and they feed, rest, and go to water at irregular times, or at least at difi^erent times in difi^erent. localities; and although they are most apt to rest during the heat of the day, I have seen them get up soon after noon, having lain down for a couple of hours, feed for an hour or so, and then lie down again. In the same way the habits of the game as to mi- gration vary with the different districts, in Africa as in America. There are places where all the game, perhaps notably the wildebeests, gather in herds of thousands, at certain times, and travel for scores of miles, so that a dis- trict which is teeming with game at one time may be almost barren of large wild life at another. But my information was that around the Kapiti Plains there was no such com- plete and extensive shift. If the rains are abundant and the grass rank, most of the game Vv'ill be found far out in the middle of the plains; if, as was the case at the time of my visit, there has been a long drought — the game will be found ten or fifteen miles away, near or among the foot- hills. Unless there was something special on, like a lion or rhinoceros hunt, I usually rode off followed only by my sais and gun-bearers. I cannot describe the beauty and the unceasing interest of these rides, through the teeming herds of game. It was like retracing the steps of time for sixty or seventy years, and being back in the days of Corn- ON AN EAST AFRICAN R.\NCH C,3 wallis Harris and Gordon Cumming, in the palmy times of the giant fauna of South Africa. On Pease's own farm one day I passed through scores of herds of the beautiful and wonderful wild creatures I have spoken of above; all told there were several thousands of them. With the ex- ception of the wildebeest, most of them were not shy, and I could have taken scores of shots at a distance of a couple of hundred yards or thereabout. Of course, I did not shoot at anything unless we were out of meat or needed the skin for the collection; and when we took the skin we almost always took the meat too, for the porters, although they had their rations of rice, depended for much of their well- being on our success with the rifle. These rides through the wild, lonely country, with only my silent black followers, had a peculiar charm. When the sky was overcast it was cool and pleasant, for it is a high country; as soon as the sun appeared the vertical tropic rays made the air quiver above the scorched land. As we passed down a hill-side we brushed through aromatic shrubs and the hot pleasant fragrance enveloped us. When we came to a nearly dry watercourse, there would be beds of rushes, beautiful lilies and lush green plants with staring flowers; and great deep-green fig-trees, or flat-topped mimosas. In many of these trees there were sure to be native beehives; these were sections of hollow logs hung from the branches; they formed striking and characteristic features of the land- scape. Wherever there was any moisture there were flow- ers, brilliant of hue and many of them sweet of smell; and birds of numerous kinds abounded. When we left the hills and the wooded watercourses we might ride hour after hour across the barren desolation of the flats, while herds of zebra and hartebeest stared at us through the heat haze. Then the zebra, with shrill, barking neighs, would file off across the horizon, or the high-withered hartebeests, snort- ing and bucking, would rush off in a confused mass, as unreasoning panic succeeded foolish confidence. If I shot anything, vultures of several kinds, and the tall, hideous 64 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS marabou storks, gathered before the skinners were through with their work; they usually stayed at a wary distance, but the handsome ravens, glossy-hued with white napes, big-billed, long-winged, and short-tailed, came round more familiarly. I rarely had to take the trouble to stalk anything; the shooting was necessarily at rather long range, but by ma- noeuvring a little, and never walking straight toward a beast, I was usually able to get whatever the naturalists wished. Sometimes I shot fairly wtII, and sometimes badly. On one day, for instance, the entry in my diary ran: "Missed steinbuck, pig, impalla and Grant; awful." On another day it ran in part as follows: "Out with Heller. Harte- beest, 250 yards, facing me; shot through face, broke neck. Zebra, very large, quartering, 160 yards, between neck and shoulder. Buck Grant, 220 yards, walking, behind shoulder. Steinbuck, 180 yards, standing, behind shoulder." Generally each head of game bagged cost me a goodly number of bullets; but only twice did I wound animals which I failed to get^ in the other cases the extra cartridges represented either misses at animals which got clean away untouched, or else a running fus-illade at wounded animals which I eventually got. I am a very strong believer in making sure, and, therefore, in shooting at a wounded ani- mal as long as there is the least chance of its getting off. The expenditure of a few cartridges is of no consequence whatever compared to the escape of a single head of game which should have been bagged. Shooting at long range necessitates much running. Some of my successful shots at Grant's gazelle and kongoni were made at 300, 350, and 400 yards; but at such distances my proportion of misses was very large indeed — and there were altogether too many even at shorter ranges. The so-called grass antelopes, the steinbuck and duiker, were the ones at which I shot worst; they were quite plen- tiful, and they got up close, seeking to escape observation by hiding until the last moment; but they were small, and ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH 6.5 when they did go they rushed half hidden through the grass and in and out among the bushes at such a speed, and with such jumps and twists and turns, that I found it wellnigh impossible to hit them with the rifle. The few I got were generally shot when they happened to stand still. On the steep, rocky, bush-clad hills there were little klipspringers and the mountain reedbuck or Chanler's reed- buck, a very pretty little creature. Usually we found the reedbuck does and their fawns in small parties, and the bucks by themselves; but we saw too few to enable us to tell whether this represented their normal habits. They fed on the grass, the hill plants, and the tips of certain of the shrubs, and were true mountaineers in their love of the rocks and rough ground, to which they fled in frantic haste when alarmed. They were shy and elusive little things, but not wary in the sense that some of the larger antelopes are wary. I shot two does with three bullets, all of which hit. Then I tried hard for a buck; at last, late one evening, I got up to one feeding on a steep hill-side, and actually took ten shots to kill him, hitting him no less than seven times. Occasionally we drove a ravine or a range of hills by means of beaters. On such occasions all kinds of things were put up. Most of the beaters, especially if they were wild savages impressed for the purpose from some neigh- boring tribe, carried throwing-sticks, with which they were very expert; as indeed were some of the colonials, like the Hills. Hares, looking and behaving much Hke small jack- rabbits, were plentiful both on the plains and in the ra- vines, and dozens of these were knocked over; while on several occasions I saw francolins and spurfowl cut down on the wing by a throwing-stick hurled from some un- usually dexterous hand. The beats, with the noise and laughter of the good- humored^ excitable savages, and the alert interest as to what would turn up next, were great fun; but the days I enjoyed most were those spent alone with my horse and gun-bearers. 66 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS We might be off by dawn, and see the tropic sun flame splendid over the brink of the world; strange creatures rustled through the bush or fled dimly through the long grass, before the light grew bright; and the air was fresh and sweet as it blew in our faces. When the still heat of noon drew near I would stop under a tree, with my water canteen and my lunch. The men lay in the shade, and the hobbled pony grazed close by, while I either dozed or else watched through my telescope the herds of game lying down or standing drowsily in the distance. As the shadows lengthened I would again mount, and finally ride home- ward as the red sunset paled to amber and opal, and all the vast, mysterious African landscape grew to wonderful beauty in the dying twilight. CHAPTER III LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS The dangerous game of Africa are the lion, buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, and leopard. The hunter who fol- lows any of these animals always does so at a certain risk to life or limb; a risk which it is his business to minimize by coolness, caution, good judgment, and straight shooting. The leopard is in point of pluck and ferocity more than the equal of the other four; but his small size always renders it likely that he will merely maul, and not kill, a man. My friend, Carl Akeley, of Chicago, actually killed bare- handed a leopard which sprang on him. He had already wounded the beast twice^ crippling it in one front and one hind paw; whereupon it charged, followed him as he tried to dodge the charge, and struck him full just as he turned. It bit him in one arm, biting again and again as it worked up the arm from the wrist to the elbow; but Akeley threw it, holding its throat with the other hand, and flinging its body to one side. It luckily fell on its side with its two wounded legs uppermost, so that it could not tear him. He fell for- ward with it and crushed in its chest with his knees until he distinctly felt one of its ribs crack; this, said Akeley, was the first moment when he felt he might conquer. Re- doubling his efforts, with knees and hand, he actually choked and crushed the life out of it, although his arm was badly bitten. A leopard will charge at least as readily as one of the big beasts, and is rather more apt to get his charge home, but the risk is less to life than to limb. There are other animals often or occasionally danger- ous to human life which are, nevertheless, not dangerous to the hunter. Crocodiles are far greater pests, and far more often man-eaters, than lions or leopards; but their G7 68 AFRICAN GMIE TRAILS shooting is not accompanied by the smallest element of risk. Poisonous snakes are fruitful sources of accident, but they are actuated only by fear, and the anger born of fear. The hippopotamus sometimes destroys boats and kills those in them; but again there is no risk in hunting him. Finally, the hyena, too cowardly ever to be a source of danger to the hunter, is sometimes a dreadful curse to the weak and helpless. The hyena is a beast of unusual strength, and of enormous power in his jaws and teeth, and thrice over would he be dreaded were fang and sinew driven by a heart of the leopard's cruel courage. But though the creature's foul and evil ferocity has no such backing as that yielded by the angry daring of the spotted cat, it is yet fraught with a terror all its own; for on oc- casion the hyena takes to man-eating after its own fashion. Carrion-feeder though it is, in certain places it will enter native huts and carry away children or even sleeping adults; and where famine or disease has worked havoc among a people, the hideous spotted beasts become bolder and prey on the survivors. For some years past Uganda has been scourged by the sleeping sickness, which has ravaged it as in the Middle Ages the Black Death ravaged Europe. Hundreds of thousands of natives have died. Every effort has been made by the government officials to cope with the disease; and among other things sleeping-sickness camps have been established, where those stricken by the dread malady can be isolated and cease to be possible sources of infection to their fellows. Recovery among those stricken is so rare as to be almost unknown, but the disease is often slow, and months may elapse during which the diseased man is still able to live his life much as usual. In the big camps of doomed men and women thus estab- lished there were, therefore, many persons carrying on their avocations much as in an ordinary native village. But the hyenas speedily found that in many of the huts the inmates were a helpless prey. In 1908 and throughout the early part of 1909 they grew constantly bolder, haunt- Kermit Roosevelt, Sir Alfred Pease, and Mr. Roosevelt at the carcass of first big lion 70 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ing these sleeping-sickness camps, and each night enter- ing them, bursting into the huts and carrying off and eating the dying people. To guard against them each little group of huts was inclosed by a thick hedge; but after a while the hyenas learned to break through the hedges, and con- tinued their ravages; so that every night armed sentries had to patrol the camps, and every night they could be heard firing at the marauders. The men thus preyed on were sick to death, and for the most part helpless. But occasionally men in full vigor are attacked. One of Pease's native hunters was seized by a hyena as he slept beside the camp-fire, and part of his face torn off. Selous informed me that a friend of his, Major R. T. Coryndon, then administrator of Northwestern Rhodesia, was attacked by a hyena but two or three years ago. At the time Major Coryndon was lying, wrapped in a blanket, beside his wagon. A hyena, stealthily approach- ing through the night, seized him by the hand, and dragged him out of bed; but as he struggled and called out, the beast left him and ran off into the darkness. In spite of his torn hand the major was determined to get his assailant, which he felt sure would soon return. Accordingly, he went back to his bed, drew his cocked rifle beside him, pointing toward his feet, and feigned sleep. When all was still once more, a dim form loomed up through the uncertain light, toward the foot of the bed; it was the rav- enous beast returning for his prey; and the major shot and killed it where it stood. A few months ago a hyena entered the outskirts of Nairobi, crept into a hut, and seized and killed a native man. At Nairobi the wild creatures are always at the threshold of the town, and often cross it. At Governor Jackson's table, at Government House, I met Mr. and Mrs. Sandiford. Mr. Sandiford is managing the railroad. A few months previously, while he was sitting, with his family, in his own house in Nairobi, he happened to ask his daughter to look for something in one of the bedrooms. LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 71 She returned in a minute, quietly remarking, "Father, there's a leopard under the bed." So there was; and it was then remembered that the house-cat had been showing a marked and alert distrust of the room in question — very probably the leopard had gotten into the house while try- ing to catch her or one of the dogs. A neighbor with a rifle was summoned, and shot the leopard. Hyenas not infrequently kill mules and donkeys, tear- ing open their bellies, and eating them while they are still alive. Yet when themselves assailed they usually behave with abject cowardice. The Hills had a large Airedale terrier, an energetic dog of much courage. Not long before our visit this dog put up a hyena from a bushy ravine, in broad daylight, ran after it, overtook it, and flew at it. The hyena made no efl^ective fight, although the dog — not a third its weight — bit it severely, and delayed its flight so that it was killed. During the first few weeks of our trip I not infrequently heard hyenas after nightfall, but saw none. Kermit, however, put one out of a ravine or dry creek-bed — a donga, as it is locally called — and though the brute had a long start he galloped after it and succeeded in running it down. The chase was a long one, for twice the hyena got in such rocky country that he almost distanced his pursuer; but at last, after covering nearly ten miles, Kermit ran into it in the open, shooting it from the saddle as it shambled along at a canter growling with rage and terror. I would not have recognized the cry of the hyenas from what I had read, and it was long before I heard them laugh. Pease said that he had only once heard them really laugh. On that occasion he was watching for lions outside a Somali zareba. Suddenly a leopard leaped clear over the zareba, close beside him, and in a few seconds came flying back again, over the high thorn fence, with a sheep in its mouth; but no sooner had it landed than the hyenas rushed at it and took away the sheep; and then their cack- ling and shrieking sounded exactly like the most unpleasant kind of laughter. The normal death of very old lions, as 72 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS they grow starved and feeble — unless they are previously killed in an encounter with dangerous game like buffalo — is to be killed and eaten by hyenas; but of course a lion in full vigor pays no heed to hyenas, unless it is to kill one if it gets in the way. During the last few decades, in Africa, hundreds of white hunters, and thousands of native hunters, have been killed or wounded by lions, buffaloes, elephants, and rhinos. All are dangerous game; each species has to its grewsome credit a long list of mighty hunters slain or disabled. Among those competent to express judgment there is the widest difference of opinion as to the comparative danger in hunt- ing the several kinds of animals. Probably no other hunter who has ever lived has combined Selous's experience with his skill as a hunter and his power of accurate observation and narration. He has killed between three and four hundred lions, elephants, buffaloes, and rhinos, and he ranks the lion as much the most dangerous, and the rhino as much the least, while he puts the buffalo and elephant in between, and practically on a par. Governor Jackson has killed between eighty and ninety of the four animals; and he puts the buffalo uncjuestionably first in point of for- midable capacity as a foe, the elephant equally unques- tionably second, the lion third, and the rhino last. Stigand puts them in the following order: lion, elephant, rhino, leopard, and buffalo. Drummond, who wrote a capital book on South African game, who was for years a pro- fessional hunter like Selous, and who had fine opportunities for observation, but who was a much less accurate observer than Selous, put the rhino as unquestionably the most dan- gerous, with the lion as second, and the buffalo and elephant nearly on a level. Samuel Baker, a mighty hunter and good observer, but with less experience of African game than any one of the above, put the elephant first, the rhino second, the buffalo seemingly third, and the lion last. The experts of greatest experience thus absolutely disagree among them- selves; and there is the same wide divergence of view LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 73 among good hunters and trained observers whose oppor- tunities have been less. Mr. Abel Chapman, for instance, regards both the elephant and the rhino as more danger- Clifford Hill's Kikuyu ostrich boys as they beat the tall grass tor lion on the third day of lion hunting at Killima (Hill) Ugami, when we got two large and one small one. The boys had their bows and arrows for protection From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt ous than the lion; and many of the hunters I met in East Africa seemed inclined to rank the buffalo as more danger- ous than any other animal. A man who has shot but a 74 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS dozen or a score of these various animals, all put together, is not entitled to express any but the most tentative opinion as to their relative prowess and ferocity; yet on the whole it seems to me that the weight of opinion among those best fitted to judge is that the lion is the most formidable op- ponent of the hunter, under ordinary conditions. This is my own view. But we must ever keep in mind the fact that the surrounding conditions, the geographical locality, and the wide individual variation of temper within the ranks of each species, must all be taken into account. Under certain circumstances a lion may be easily killed, whereas a rhino would be a dangerous foe. Under other conditions the rhino could be attacked with impunity, and the lion only with the utmost hazard; and one bull buffalo might flee and one bull elephant charge, and yet the next couple met with might show an exact reversal of behavior. At any rate, during the last three or four years, in Ger- man and British East Africa and Uganda, over fifty white men have been killed or mauled by lions buffaloes, elephants, and rhinos; and the lions have much the largest list of victims to their credit. In Nairobi church-yard I was shown the graves of seven men who had been killed by lions, and of one who had been killed by a rhino. The first man to meet us on the African shore was Mr. Campbell, Gov- ernor Jackson's A.D.C., and only a year previously he had been badly mauled by a lion. We met one gentleman who had been crippled for life by a lioness. He had marked her into some patches of brush, and coming up, tried to put her out of one thick clump. Failing, he thought she might have gone into another thicket, and walked toward it; instantly that his back was turned, the lioness, who had really been in the first clump of brush, raced out after him, threw him down, and bit him again and again before she was driven off. One night we camped at the very spot where, a score of years before, a strange tragedy had hap- pened. It was in the early days of the opening of the coun- try, and an expedition was going toward Uganda; one of •i '^ 76 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS the officials in charge was sleeping In a tent with the flap open. There was an askari on duty; yet a Hon crept up, entered the tent, and seized and dragged forth the man. He struggled and made outcry; there was a rush of people, and the Hon dropped his prey and bounded off. The man's wounds were dressed, and he was put back to bed in his own tent; but an hour or two after the camp again grew still, the Hon returned, bent on the victim of whom he had been robbed; he re-entered the tent, seized the unfortu- nate wounded man with his great fangs, and this time made off with him into the surrounding darkness, killed and ate him. Not far from the scene of this tragedy, another had occurred. An English officer named Stewart, while endeavoring to kill his first Hon, was himself set on and slain. At yet another place we were shown where two settlers^ Messrs. Lucas and Goldfinch, had been one killed and one crippled by a Hon they had been hunting. They had been following the chase on horseback, and being men of bold nature, and having killed several lions, had become too daring. They hunted the Hon into a small piece of brush and rode too near it. It came out at a run and was on them before their horses could get under way. Gold- finch was knocked over and badly bitten and clawed; Lu- cas went to his assistance, and was in his turn knocked over, and the lion then lay on him and bit him to death. Goldfinch, In spite of his own severe wounds, crawled over and shot the great beast as It lay on his friend. Most of the settlers with whom I was hunting had met with various adventures In connection with lIon.s. Sir Alfred had shot many in different parts of Africa; some had charged fiercely, but he always stopped them. Cap- tain Slatter had killed a big male with a mane a few months previously. He was hunting it In company with Mr. Hum- phery, the district commissioner of whom I have already spoken, and it gave them some exciting moments, for when hit It charged savagely. Humphery had a shot-gun loaded with buckshot, Slatter his rifle. When wounded, the lion LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 77 charged straight home, hit Slatter, knocking him flat and rolhng him over and over in the sand, and then went after the native gun-bearer, who was running away — the worst possible course to follow with a charging lion. The mech- anism of Slatter's rifle was choked by the sand, and as he rose to his feet he saw the lion overtake the fleeing man, rise on his hind legs like a rearing horse — not springing— and strike down the fugitive. Humphery fired into him with buckshot, which merely went through the skin; and some minutes elapsed before Slatter was able to get his rifle in shape to kill the lion, which, fortunately, had be- gun to feel the effect of his wounds, and was too sick to re- sume hostilities of its own accord. The gun-bearer was badly but not fatally injured. Before this, Slatter, while on a lion hunt, had been set afoot by one of the animals he was after, which had killed his horse. It was at night and the horse was tethered within six yards of his sleeping master. The latter was aroused by the horse galloping off, and he heard it staggering on for some sixty yards before it fell. He and his friend followed it with lanterns and drove off the lion, but the horse was dead. The tracks and the marks on the horse showed what had happened. The lion had sprung clean on the horse's back, his fore claws dug into the horse's shoulders, his hind claws cutting into its haunches, while the great fangs bit at the neck. The horse struggled off at a heavy run, carrying its fearsome burden. After going some sixty yards the lion's teeth went through the .spinal cord, and the ride was over. Neither animal had made a sound, and the lion's feet did not touch the earth until the horse fell. While a magistrate in the Transvaal, Pease had under him as game officer a white hunter, a fine fellow, who under- went an extraordinary experience. He had been off some distance with his Kaffir boys, to hunt a lion. On his way home the hunter was hunted. It was after nightfall. He had reached a region where lions had not been seen for a long time, and where an attack by them was unknown. 78 , AFRICAN GAJNIE TRAILS He was riding along a trail in the darkness, his big boar- hound trotting ahead, his native **boys" some distance behind. He heard a rustle in the bushes alongside the path, but paid no heed, thinking it was a reedbuck. Im- mediately afterward two lions came out in the path behind and raced after him. One sprang on him, tore him out of the saddle, and trotted off holding him in its mouth, while the other continued after the frightened horse. The lion had him b^ the right shoulder, and yet with his left hand he wrenched his knife out of his belt and twice stabbed it. The second stab went to the heart and the beast let go of him, stood a moment, and fell dead. Meanwhile, the dog had followed the other lion, which now, having abandoned the chase of the horse, and with the dog still at his heels, came trotting back to look for the man. Crippled though he was, the hunter managed to climb a small tree; and though the lion might have gotten him out of it, the dog interfered. Whenever the lion came toward the tree the dog worried him, and kept him off until, at the shouts and torches of the approaching Kaffir boys, he sullenly retired, and the hunter was rescued. Percival had a narrow escape from a lion, which nearly got him, though probably under a misunderstanding. He was riding through a wet spot of ground, where the grass was four feet high, when his horse suddenly burst into a run and the next moment a lion had galloped almost along- side of him. Probably the lion thought it was a zebra, for when Percival, leaning over, yelled in his face, the lion stopped short. But he at once came on again, and nearly caught the horse. However, they were now out of the tall grass, and the lion gradually drew up when they reached the open country. The two Hills, Clifford and Harold, were running an ostrich-farm. The lions sometimes killed their ostriches and stock; and the Hills in return had killed several lions. The Hills were fine fellows; Africanders, as their fore- fathers for three generations had been, and frontiersmen of LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS the best kind. Frorh the first moment they and I became fast friends, for we instinctively understood one another, and found that we fek ahke on all the big questions, and looked at life, and especially the life of effort led by the pioneer settler, from the same stand-point. They reminded me, at every moment, of those West- ern ranchmen and home- makers with whom I have always felt a special sense of companionship and with whose ideals and aspirations I have always felt a special sympathy. A couple of months before my visit, Harold Hill had met with a rather unpleasant adventure. He was walk- ing home across the lone- ly plains, in the broad daylight, never dream- ing that lions might be abroad, and was un- armed. When still some miles from his house, while plodding along, he glanced up and saw three lions in the trail only fifty yards off, staring fixedly at him. It happened to be a place where the grass was rather tall, and lions are always bold where there is the slightest cover; whereas, unless angered, they are cautious on bare ground. He halted, and then walked slowly to one side; and then slowly forward toward his house. The lions followed him with their eyes, and when he had passed they rose and slouched after him. They were not pleasant followers, but to hurry would have been fatal; and he walked slowly on along the road, while for a mile he kept catching One of the native beaters and gun-bearers From a photograph by Edmund Heller 80 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS glimpses of the tawny bodies of the beasts as they trod stealthily forward through the sunburned grass, alongside or a little behind him. Then the grass grew short, and the lions halted and continued to gaze after him until he dis- appeared over a rise. Everywhere throughout the country we were crossing were signs that the lion was lord and that his reign was cruel. There were many lions, for the game on which they feed was extraordinarily abundant. They occasionally took the ostriches or stock of the settlers, or ravaged the herds and flocks of the natives, but not often; for their favor- ite food was yielded by the swarming herds of kongoni and zebras, on which they could prey at will. Later we found that in this region they rarely molested the buffalo, even where they lived in the same reedbeds; and this though elsewhere they habitually prey on the buffalo. But where zebras and hartebeests could be obtained without effort, it was evidently not worth their while to challenge such formidable quarry. Every ''kill" I saw was a kongoni or a zebra; probably I rame across fifty of each. One zebra kill, which was not more than eighteen hours old (after the lapse of that time the vultures and marabouts, not to speak of the hyenas and jackals, leave only the bare bones), showed just what had occurred. The bones were all in place, and the skin still on the lower legs and head. The animal was lying on its belly, the legs spread out, the neck vertebra crushed; evidently the lion had sprung clean on it, bearing it down by his weight while he bit through the back of the neck, and the zebra's legs had spread out as the body yielded under the lion. One fresh kongoni kill showed no marks on the haunches, but a broken neck and claw marks on the face and withers; in this case the lion's hind legs had remained on the ground, while with his fore paws he grasped the kongoni's head and shoulders, holding it until the teeth splintered the neck bone. One or two of our efforts to get lions failed, of course; the ravines we beat did not contain them, or we failed to. I LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 81 make them leave some particularly difficult hill or swamp — for lions lie close. But Sir Alfred knew just the right place to go to, and was bound to get us lions — and he did. One day we started from the ranch house in good sea- son for an all-day lion hunt. Besides Kermit and myself, there was a fellow-guest, Medlicott, and not only our host, The start for the first day's lion hunting From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt but our hostess and her daughter; and we were joined by Percival at lunch, which we took under a great fig-tree at the foot of a high, rocky hill. Percival had with him a little mongrel bull-dog, and a Masai "boy," a fine, bold-looking savage, with a handsome head-dress and the usual formidable spear; master, man, and dog evidently all looked upon any form of encounter with lions simply in the light of a spree. After lunch we began to beat down a long donga, or dry watercourse — a creek, as we should call it in the Western 82 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS plains country. The watercourse, with low, steep banks, wound in curves, and here and there were patches of brush, which might contain anything in the shape of lion, chee- tah, hyena, or wild dog. Soon we came upon lion spoor in the sandy bed; first the footprints of a big male, then those of a lioness. We walked cautiously along each side of the donga, the horses following close behind so that if the View of rock where we lunched on the day we got the first four lions Frotn a photograph by Lady Pease lion were missed we could gallop after him and round him up on the plain. The dogs — for besides the little bull, we had a large brindled mongrel named Ben, whose courage belied his looks — began to show signs of scenting the lion; and we beat out each patch of brush, the natives shouting and throwing in stones, while we stood with the rifles where we could best command any probable exit. After a couple of false" alarms the dogs drew toward one patch, their hair bristling, and showing such eager excitement that it was evident something big was inside; and in a moment one of. LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 83 the boys called, *'simba" (lion), and pointed with his fin- ger. It was just across the little ravine, there about four yards wide and as many feet deep; and I shifted my posi- Noon at Ugami. Sir Alfred Pease bending over behind Mr. Roosevelt From a photograph by Kerim't Roosevelt tion, peering eagerly into the bushes for some moments before I caught a glimpse of tawny hide; as it moved, there was a call to me to *' shoot," for at that distance, if the lion 84 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS charged, there would be scant time to stop it; and I fired into what I saw. There was a commotion in the bushes, and Kermit fired; and immediately afterward there broke out on the other side, not the hoped-for big lion^ but two cubs the size of mastiffs. Each was badly wounded and wc finished them off; even if unwounded, they were too big to lake alive. This was a great disappointment, and as it was well on in the afternoon, and we had beaten the country most apt to harbor our game, it seemed unlikely that we would have another chance. Percival was on foot and a long way from his house, so he started for it; and the rest of us also began to jog homeward. But Sir Alfred, although he said nothing, intended to have another try. After going a mile or two he started off to the left at a brisk canter; and we, the other riders, followed, leaving behind our gun-bearers, saises, and porters. A couple of miles away was another donga, another shallow watercourse with occasional big brush patches along the winding bed; and toward this we cantered. Almost as soon as we reached it our leader found the spoor of two big lions; and with every sense acock, we dismounted and approached the first patch of tall bushes. We shouted and threw in stones, but nothing came out; and another small patch showed the same result. Then we mounted our horses again, and rode toward another patch a quarter of a mile off. I was mounted on Tran- quillity, the stout and quiet sorrel. This patch of tall, thick brush stood on the hither bank — that is, on our side of the watercourse. We rode up to it and shouted loudly. The response was immediate, in the shape of loud gruntings, and crashings through the thick brush. We were off our horses in an instant, I throwing the reins over the head of mine; and without delay the good old fellow began placidly grazing, quite un- moved by the ominous sounds immediately in front. I sprang to one side; and for a second or two we waited, uncertain whether we should see the lions charging out LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 85 ten yards distant or running away. Fortunately, they adopted the latter course. Right in front of me, thirty yards off, there appeared, from behind the bushes which had first screened him from my eyes, the tawny, galloping form of a big maneless lion. Crack! the Winchester spoke; and as the soft-nosed bullet ploughed forward through his flank the lion swerved so that I missed him with the second shot; but my third bullet went through the spine and for- ward into his chest. Down he came, sixty yards off, his hind quarters dragging, his head up, his ears back, his jaws open and lips drawn up in a prodigious snarl, as he endeavored to turn to face us. His back was broken; but of this we could not at the moment be sure, and if it had merely been grazed, he might have recovered, and then, even though dying, his charge might have done mischief. So Kermit, Sir Alfred, and I iired^ almost together, into his chest. His head sank, and he died. This lion had come out on the left of the bushes; the other, to the right of them, had not been hit, and we saw him galloping off across the plain, six or eight hundred yards away. A couple more shots missed, and we mounted our horses to try to ride him down. The plain sloped gently upward for three-quarters of a mile to a low crest or divide, and long before we got near him he disappeared over this. Sir Alfred and Kermit were tearing along in front and to the right, with Miss Pease close behind; while Tranquillity carried me, as fast as he could, on the left, with Medlicott near me. On topping the divide Sir Al- fred and Kermit missed the lion, which had swung to the left, and they raced ahead too far to the right. Medlicott and I, however, saw the lion, loping along close behind some kongoni; and this enabled me to get up to him as quickly as the lighter men on the faster horses. The going was now slightly downhill, and the sorrel took me along very well, while Medlicott, whose horse was slow, bore to the right and joined the other two men. We gained rapidly, and, finding out this, the hon suddenly halted and came to bay 86 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS In a slight hollow, where the grass was rather long. The plain seemed flat, and we could see the Hon well from horse- back; but, especially when he lay down, it was most diffi- cult to make him out on foot, and impossible to do so when kneeling. We were about a hundred and fifty yards from the lion. Sir Alfred, Kermit, Medlicott, and Miss Pease ofl^ to one side, and slightly above him on the slope, while I was on the level, about equidistant from him and them. Kermit and I tried shooting from the horses; but at such a distance this was not effective. Then Kermit got off, but his horse would not let him shoot; and when I got off I could not make out the animal through the grass with sufficient distinctness to enable me to take aim. Old Ben the dog had arrived, and, barking loudly, was strolling about near the lion, which paid him not the slightest attention. At this moment my black sais, Simba, came running up to me and took hold of the bridle; he had seen the chase from the line of march and had cut across to join me. There was no other sais or gun-bearer anywhere near, and his action was plucky, for he was the only man afoot, with the lion at bay. Lady Pease had also ridden up and was an interested spectator only some fifty yards behind me. Now, an elderly man with a varied past which includes rheumatism does not vault lightly into the saddle; as his sons, for instance, can; and I had already made up my mind that in the event of the lion's charging it would be wise for me to trust to straight powder rather than to try to scramble into the saddle and get under way in time. The arrival of my two companions settled matters. I was not sure of the speed of Lady Pease's horse; and Simba was on foot and it was of course out of the question for me to leave him. So I said, "Good, Simba, now we'll see this thing through," and gentle-mannered Simba smiled a shy appreciation of my tone, though he could not understand the words. I was still unable to see the lion when I knelt, LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 87 but he was now standing up, looking first at one group of horses and then at the other, his tail lashing to and fro, his head held low, and his lips dropped over his mouth in peculiar fashion, while his harsh and savage growling rolled thunderously over the plain. Seeing Simba and me •' Ben " worrying the second big lion before it died, and when we were afraid it could yet charge From a photograph by Kertnit Roosevelt on foot, he turned toward us, his tail lashing quicker and quicker. Resting my elbow on Simba's bent shoulder, I took steady aim and pressed the trigger; the bullet went in between the neck and shoulder, and the lion fell over on his side, one foreleg in the air. He recovered in a mo- ment and stood up, evidently very sick, and once more faced me, growling hoarsely. I think he was on the eve 88 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS of charging. I fired again at once, and this bullet broke h s back just behind the shoulders; and with the next I killed him outright, after we had gathered round him. These were two good-sized maneless lions; and very proud of them I was. I think Sir Alfred was at least as proud, especially because we had performed the feat alone, without any professional hunters being present. "We were all amateurs, only gentleman riders up," said Sir Alfred. It was late before we got the lions skinned. Then we set off toward the ranch, two porters carrying each lion skin, strapped to a pole; and two others carrying the cub skins. Night fell long before we were near the ranch; but the brilliant tropic moon lighted the trail. The stalwart savages who carried the bloody lion skins swung along at a faster walk as the sun went down and the moon rose higher; and they began to chant in unison, one uttering a single word or sentence, and the others joining in a deep- toned, musical chorus. The men on a safari, and indeed African natives generally, are always excited over the death of a lion, and the hunting tribes then chant their rough hunting songs, or victory songs, until the monotonous, rhythmical repetitions make them grow almost frenzied. The ride home through the moonlight, the vast barren land- scape shining like silver on either hand, was one to be re- membered; and above all, the sight of our trophies and of their wild bearers. Three days later we had another successful lion hunt. Our camp was pitched at a waterhole in a little stream called Potha, by a hill of the same name. Pease, Medlicott, and both the Hills were with us, and Heller came too; for he liked, when possible, to be with the hunters so that he could at once care for any beast that was shot. As the safari was stationary, we took fifty or sixty porters as beat- ers. It was thirteen hours before we got into camp that evening. The Hills had with them as beaters and water- carriers half a dozen of the Wakamba who were working on their farm. It was interesting to watch these naked LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 89 savages, with their filed teeth, their heads shaved in curious patterns, and carrying for arms httle bows and arrows. Before lunch we beat a long, low hill. Harold Hill was Kermit Roosevelt and cheetah shot by him From a photograph by Edviund HeUet with me; Medlicott and Kermit were together. We placed ourselves, one couple on each side of a narrow neck, two- thirds of the way along the crest of the hill; and soon 90 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS after we were in position we heard the distant shouts of the beaters as they came toward us, covering the crest and the tops of the slopes on both sides. It was rather dis- concerting to find how much better Hill's eyes were than mine. He saw everything first, and it usually took some time before he could make me see it. In this first drive nothing came my way except some mountain reedbuck does, at which I did not shoot. But a fine male cheetah came to Kermit, and he bowled it over in good style as it ran. Then the beaters halted, and waited before resuming their march until the guns had gone clear round and es- tablished themselves at the base of the farther end of the hill. This time Kermit, who was a couple of hundred yards from me, killed a reedbuck and a steinbuck. Sud- denly Hill said, *'Lion," and endeavored to point it out to me, as it crept cautiously among the rocks on the steep hill-side, a hundred and fifty yards away. At first I could not see it; finally I thought I did and fired, but, as it proved, at a place just above him. However, it made him start up, and I immediately put the next bullet behind his shoul- ders; it was a fatal shot; but, growling, he struggled down the hill, and I fired again and killed him. It was not much of a trophy, however, turning out to be a half- grown male. We lunched under a tree, and then arranged for an- other beat. There was a long, wide valley, or rather a slight depression in the ground — for it was only three or four feet below the general level — in which the grass grew tall, as the soil was quite wet. It was the scene of Percival's adventure with the lion that chased him. Hill and I sta- tioned ourselves on one side of this valley or depression, toward the upper end; Pease took Kermit to the opposite side; and we waited, our horses some distance behind us. The beaters were put in at the lower end, formed a line across the valley, and beat slowly toward us, making a great noise. LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 91 They were still some distance away when Hill saw three lions, which had slunk stealthily off ahead of them through the grass. I have called the grass tall, but this was only by comparison with the short grass of the dry plains. In the depression or valley it was some three feet high. In such grass a lion, which is marvellously adept at hiding, The third male liun shot by Mr. Roosevelt From a photograph by Edmund Heller can easily conceal itself, not merely when lying down, but when advancing at a crouching gait. If it stands erect, however, it can be seen. There were two lions near us, one directly in our front, a hundred and ten yards off. Some seconds passed before Hill could make me realize that the dim yellow smear in the yellow-brown grass was a lion; and then I found such difficulty in getting a bead on him that I overshot. How- ever, the bullet must have passed very close — indeed, I think it just grazed him — for he jumped up and faced us, 92 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS growling savagely. Then, his head lowered, he threw his tail straight into the air and began to charge. The first few steps he took at a trot, and before he could start into a gallop I put the soft-nosed Winchester bullet in between the neck and shoulder. Down he went with a roar; the wound was fatal, but I was taking no chances, and I put two more bullets in him. Then we walked toward where Hill had already seen another lion — the lioness, as it proved. Again he had some difficulty in making me see her; but he suc- ceeded and I walked toward her through the long grass, repressing the zeal of my two gun-bearers, who were stanch, but who showed a tendency to walk a little ahead of me on each side, instead of a little behind. I walked toward her because I could not kneel to shoot in grass so tall; and when shooting off-hand I like to be fairly close, so as to be sure that my bullets go in the right place. At sixty yards I could make her out clearly, snarling at me as she faced me; and I shot her full in the chest. She at once performed a series of extraordinary antics, tumbling about on her head, just as if she were throwing somersaults, first to one side and then to the other. I fired again, but managed to shoot between the somersaults, so to speak, and missed her. The shot seemed to bring her to herself, and away she tore; but instead of charging us she charged the line of beaters. She was dying fast, however, and in her weakness failed to catch any one; and she sank down into the long grass. Hill and I advanced to look her up, our rifles at full cock, and the gun-bearers close behind. It is ticklish work to follow a wounded lion in tall grass, and we walked carefully, every sense on the alert. We passed Heller, who had been with the beaters. He spoke to us with an amused smile. His only weapon was a pair of field-glasses, but he always took things as the)^ came, with entire coolness, and to be close to a wounded lioness when she charged merely inter- ested him. A beater came running up and pointed toward where he had seen her, and we walked toward the place. At thirty yards distance Hill pointed, and, eagerly peering. LION HUNTING ON THE KAPITI PLAINS 93 I made out the form of the honess showing indistinctly through the grass. She was half crouching, half sitting, her head bent down; but she still had strength to do mischief. She saw us, but before she could turn I sent a bullet through her shoulders; down she went, and was dead when we walked up. A cub had been seen, and another full-grown lion, but they had slunk off and we got neither. This was a full-grown, but young, lioness of average size; her cubs must have been several months old. We took her entire to camp to weigh; she weighed two hundred and eighty-three pounds. The first lion, which we had difficulty in finding, as there were no identifying marks in the plain of tall grass, was a good-sized male, weighing about four hundred pounds, but not yet full-grown; al- though he was probably the father of the cubs. We were a long way from camp, and, after beating in vain for the other lion, we started back; it was after night- fall before we saw the camp-fires. It was two hours later before the porters appeared, bearing on poles the skin of the dead lion, and the lioness entire. The moon was nearly full, and it was interesting to see them come swinging down the trail in the bright silver light, chanting in deep tones, over and over again, a line or phrase that sounded like: "Zou-zou-boule ma ja guntai; zou-zou-boule ma ja guntai.' Occasionally they would interrupt it by the repetition in unison, at short intervals, of a guttural ejaculation sound- ing like "huzlem." They marched into cam.p, then up and down the lines, before the rows of small fires; then, accompanied by all the rest of .the porters, they paraded up to the big fire where I was standing. Here they stopped and ended the ceremony by a minute or two's vigorous dan- cing amid singing and wild shouting. The firelight gleamed and nickered across the grim dead beasts, and the shining eyes and black features of the excited savages, while all around the moon flooded the landscape with her white light. CHAPTER IV ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE When we killed the last lions we were already on safari, and the camp was pitched by a waterhole on the Potha, a half-dried stream, little more than a string of pools and reedbeds, winding down through the sun-scorched plain. Next morning we started for another waterhole at the rocky hill of Bondoni, about eight miles distant. Safari life is very pleasant, and also very picturesque. The porters are strong, patient, good-humored savages, with something childlike about them that makes one really fond of them. Of course, like all savages and most children, they have their limitations, and in dealing with them firm- ness is even more necessary than kindness; but the man is a poor creature who does not treat them with kindness also, and I am rather sorry for him if he does not grow to feel for them, and to make them in return feel for him, a real and friendly liking. They are subject to gusts of passion, and they are now and then guilty of grave misdeeds and shortcomings; sometimes for no conceivable reason, at least from the white man's stand-point. But they are generally cheerful, and when cheerful are always amusing; and they work hard, if the white man is able to combine tact and consideration with that insistence on the performance of duty the lack of which they despise as weakness. Any little change or excitement is a source of pleasure to them. When the march is over they sing; and after two or three days in camp they will not only sing, but dance when an- other march is to begin. Of course at times they suffer greatly from thirst and hunger and fatigue, and at times they will suddenly grow sullen or rebel without what seems to us any adequate cause; and they have an inconsequent 94 ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 95 type of mind which now and then leads them to commit folHes all the more exasperating because they are against their own interest no less than against the interest of their employer. But they do well on the whole, and safari life is attractive to them. They are fed well; the government requires that they be fitted with suitable clothes and given small tents, so that they are better clad and sheltered than they would be otherwise; and their wages represent money which they could get in no other way. The safari repre- 1 he carnival, oil buluri at I'ulllu In single file came the long line of burden-bearers From a photograph by Keriuit Roosevelt sents a great advantage to the porter; who in his turn alone makes the safari possible. When we were to march, camp was broken as early in the day as possible. Each man had his allotted task, and the tents, bedding, provisions, and all else were expeditiously made into suitable packages. Each porter is supposed to carry from fifty-five to sixty pounds, which may all be in one bundle or in two or three. The American flag, which fiew over my tent, was a matter of much pride to the por- ters, and was always carried at the head or near the head of the line of march; and after it in single file came the long line of burden-bearers. As they started, some of them would blow on horns or whistles and others beat little tomtoms; and at intervals this would be renewed again and again throughout the march; or the men might suddenly begin to chant, or merely to keep repeating in unison some 96 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS one word or one phrase whlch^ when we asked to have it translated, might or might not prove to be entirely mean- ingless. The headmen carried no burdens, and the tent boys hardly anything, while the saises walked with the spare horses. In addition to the canonical and required costume of blouse or jersey and drawers, each porter wore a blanket, and usually something else to which his soul inclined. It might be an exceedingly shabby coat; it might be, of all things in the world, an umbrella, an article for The American flag was always at the head or near the head of the line of march 'I'he caravan on safari at Potha From a photograph by Kervtit Roosevelt which they had a special attachment. Often I Vvould see a porter, who thought nothing whatever of walking for hours at mid-day under the equatorial sun with his head bare, trudging along with solemn pride either under an open umbrella, or carrying the umbrella (tied much like Mrs. Gamp's) in one hand, as a wand of dignity. Then their head-gear varied according to the fancy of the indi- vidual. Normally it was a red fez, a kind of cap only used in hot climates, and exquisitely designed to be useless therein because it gives absolutely no protection from the sun. But one would wear a skin cap; another would sud- denly put one or more long feathers in his fez; and another, discarding the fez, would revert to some purely savage head-dress which he would wear with equal gravity whether it were, in our eyes, really decorative or merely comic. One such head-dress, for instance, consisted of the skin of the 98 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS top of a zebra's head, with the two ears. Another was made of the skins of squirrels, with the tails both sticking up and hanging down. Another consisted of a bunch of feathers woven into the hair, which itself was pulled out into strings that were stiffened with clay. Another was really too intricate for description because it included the man's natural hair, some strips of skin, and an empty tin can. If it were a long journey and we broke it by a noonday halt, or if it were a short journey and we reached camp ahead of the safari, it was interesting to see the long file of men approach. Here and there, leading the porters, scattered through the line, or walking alongside, were the askaris, the rifle-bearing soldiers. They were not marks- men, to put it mildly, and I should not have regarded them as particularly efficient allies in a serious fight; but they were excellent for police duty in camp, and were also of use in preventing collisions with the natives. After the leading askaris might come one of the headmen; one of whom, by the way, looked exactly like a Semitic negro, and always travelled with a large dirty-white umbrella in one hand; while another, a tall, powerful fellow, was a mission boy who spoke good English; I mention his being a mission boy because it is so frequently asserted that mission boys never turn out well. Then would come the man with the flag, followed by another blowing on an antelope horn, or perhaps beating an empty can as a drum; and then the long line of men, some carrying their loads on their heads, others on their shoulders, others, in a very few cases, on their backs. As they approached the halting place their spirits rose, the whistles and horns were blown, and the improvised drums beaten, and perhaps the whole line would burst into a chant. On reaching the camping ground each man at once set about his allotted task, and the tents were quickly pitched and the camp put in order, while water and firewood were fetched. The tents were pitched in long lines, in the first II ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 99 of which stood my tent, flanked by those of the other white men and by the dining tent. In the next Hne were the cook tent, the provision tent, the store tent, the skinning tent, and the Hke; and then came the Unes of small white tents for the porters. Between each row of tents was a broad street. In front of our own tents in the first line an askari was always pacing to and fro; and when night fell we would kindle a camp-fire and sit around it under the stars. Before each of the porters' tents was a little fire, and be- side it stood the pots and pans in which the porters did their cooking. Here and there were larger fires, around which the gun-bearers or a group of askaris or of saises might gather. After nightfall the multitude of fires lit up the darkness and showed the tents in shadowy outline; and around them squatted the porters, their faces flickering from dusk to ruddy light, as they chatted together or sud- denly started some snatch of wild African melody in which all their neighbors might join. After a while the talk and laughter and singing would gradually die away, and as we white men sat around our fire, the silence would be un- broken except by the queer cry of a hyena, or much more rarely by a sound that always demanded attention — the yawning grunt of a questing lion. If we wished to make an early start we would breakfast by dawn and then we often returned to camp for lunch. Otherwise we would usually be absent all day, carrying our lunch with us. We might get in before sunset or we might be out till long after nightfall; and then the gleam of the lit fires was a welcome sight as we stumbled toward them through the darkness. Once in, each went to his tent to take a hot bath; and then, clean and refreshed, we sat down to a comfortable dinner, with game of some sort as the principal dish. On the first march after leaving our lion camp at Potha I shot a wart-hog. It was a good-sized sow, which, in com- pany with several of her half-grown offspring, was grazing near our line of march; there were some thorn-trees which 100 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS gave a little cover, and I killed her at a hundred and eighty yards, using the Springfield, the lightest and handiest of all my rifles. Her flesh was good to eat, and the skin, as with all our specimens, was saved for the National Museum. I did not again have to shoot a sow, although I killed half- grown pigs for the table, and boars for specimens. This sow and her porkers were not rooting, but were grazing Making camp at Bondoni From a photograph by Ker)iiit Roosevelt as if they had been antelope; her stomach contained noth- ing but chopped green grass. Wart-hogs are common throughout the country over which we hunted. They are hideous beasts, with strange protuberances on their cheeks; and when alarmed they trot or gallop away, holding the tail perfectly erect with the tassel bent forward. Usually they are seen in family parties, but a big boar will often be alone. They often root up the ground, but the stomachs of those we shot were commonly filled with nothing but grass. ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE loi If the weather is cloudy or wet they may be out all day long, but in hot, dry weather we generally found them abroad only in the morning and evening. A pig is always a comical animal; even more so than is the case with a bear, which also impresses one with a sense of grotesque humor — and this notwithstanding the fact that both boar and bear may be very formidable creatures. A wart-hog standing alertly at gaze, head and tail up, legs straddled out, and ears cocked forward, is rather a figure of fun; and not the less so when with characteristic suddenness he bounces round with a grunt and scuttles madly off to safety. Wart-hogs are beasts of the bare plain or open forest, and though they will often lie up in patches of brush they do not care for thick timber. After shooting the wart-hog we marched on to our camp at Bondoni. The gun-bearers were Mohammedans, and the dead pig was of no service to them; and at their request I walked out while camp was being pitched and shot them a buck; this I had to do now and then, but I always shot males, so as not to damage the species. Next day we marched to the foot of Kilimakiu Moun- tain, near Captain Slatter's ostrich-farm. Our route lay across bare plains thickly covered with withered short grass. All around us as we marched were the game herds, zebras and hartebeests, gazelles of the two kinds, and now and then wildebeests. Hither and thither over the plain, cross- ing and recrossing, ran the dusty game trails, each with its myriad hoof-marks; the round hoof-prints of the zebra, the heart-shaped marks that showed where the hartebeest herd had trod, and the delicate etching that betrayed where the smaller antelope had passed. Occasionally we crossed the trails of the natives, worn deep in the hard soil by the countless thousands of bare or sandalled feet that had trodden them. Africa is a country of trails. Across the high veldt, in every direction, run the tangled trails of the multitudes of game that have lived thereon from time im- memorial. The great beasts of the marsh and the forest 102 APRICAN GAME TRAILS made therein broad and muddy trails which often offer the only pathway by which a man can enter the sombre depths. In wet ground and dry ahke are also found the trails of savage man. They lead from village to village, and in places they stretch for hundreds of miles, where trading parties have worn them in the search for ivory, or in the old days when raiding or purchas- ing slaves. The trails made by the men are made much as the beasts make theirs. They are generally longer and better de- fined, although I have seen hippo tracks more deeply marked than any made by savage man. But they are made simply by men following in one another's footsteps, and they are never quite straight. They bend now a little to one side, now a little to the other, and sud- den loops mark the spot where some van- ished obstacle once stood; around it the first trail-makers went, and their suc- cessors have ever trodden in their footsteps, even though the need for so doing has long passed away. Our camp at Kilimakiu was by a grove of shady trees, and from it at sunset we looked across the vast plain and saw the far-off mountains grow umber and purple as the light waned. Back of the camp, and of the farm-house A tribe of the Wakamba with their chief (in khaki with a golf cap) that came to present Mr. Roosevelt with a sheep near Kilimakiu From a photograph by Ktrmit Roosevelt ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 103 near which we were, rose KIHmaklu Mountain, beautifully studded with groves of trees of many kinds. On its farther side lived a tribe of the Wakamba. Their chief with all the leading men of his village came in state to call upon me, and presented me with a fat hairy sheep, of the ordinary kind found in this part of Africa, where the sheep very wisely do not grow wool. The headman was dressed in khaki, and showed me with pride an official document which confirmed him in his position by direction of the government, and required him to perform various acts, chiefly in the way of preventing his tribes-people from committing robbery or murder, and of helping to stamp out cattle disease. Like all the Wakamba they had flocks of goats and sheep, and herds of humped cattle; but they were much in need of meat and hailed my advent. They were wild savages with filed teeth, many of them stark naked, though some of them carried a blanket. Their heads were curiously shaved so that the hair tufts stood out in odd patterns, and they carried small bows, and arrows with poisoned heads. The following morning I rode out with Captain Slatter. I We kept among the hills. The long drought was still un- broken. The little pools were dry and their bottoms baked like iron, and there was not a drop in the watercourses. Part of the land was open and part covered with a thin forest or bush of scattered mimosa-trees. In the open country were many zebras and hartebeests, and the latter were found even in the thin bush. In the morning we found a small herd of eland at which, after some stalking, I got a long shot and missed. The eland is the largest of all the horned creatures that are called antelope, being quite as heavy as a fattened ox. The herd I approached consisted of a dozen individuals, two of them huge bulls, their coats having turned a slaty blue, their great dewlaps hanging down, and the legs looking almost too small for the massive bodies. The reddish-colored cows were of far lighter build. Eland are beautiful creatures and ought to be domesticated. 104 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS As I crept toward them I was struck by their Hkeness to great, clean, handsome cattle. They were grazing or rest- ing, switching their long tails at the flies that hung in attendance upon them and lit on their flanks, just as if they were Jerseys in a field at home. My bullet fell short, their size causing me to underestimate the distance, and away they went at a run, one or two of the cows in the first hurry and confusion skipping clean over the backs of others that got in their way — a most unexpected example of agility in such large and ponderous animals. After a few hundred yards they settled down to the slashing trot which is their natural gait, and disappeared over the brow of a hill. The morning was a blank, but early in the afternoon we saw the eland herd again. They were around a tree in an open space, and we could not get near them. But in- stead of going straight away they struck off to the right and described almost a semicircle, and though they were over four hundred yards distant, they were such big creatures and their gait was so steady that I felt warranted in shooting. On the dry plain I could mark where my bullets fell, and though I could not get a good chance at the bull I finally downed a fine cow; and by pacing I found it to be a little over a quarter of a mile from where I stood when shooting. It was about nine miles from camp, and I dared not leave the eland alone, so I stationed one of the gun-bearers by the great carcass and sent a messenger in to Heller, on whom we depended for preserving the skins of the big game. Hardly had this been done when a Wakamba man came running up to tell us that there was a rhinoceros on the hill-side three-quarters of a mile away, and that he had left a companion to watch it while he carried us the news. Slatter and I immediately rode in the direction given, fol- lowing our wild-looking guide; the other gun-bearer trotting after us. In five minutes we had reached the opposite hill- crest, where the watcher stood, and he at once pointed out the rhino. The huge beast was standing in entirely open country, although there were a few scattered trees of no ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 10.5 great size at some little distance from him. We left our horses in a dip of the ground and began the approach; I cannot say that we stalked him, for the approach was too easy. The wind blew from him to us, and a rhino's eyesight is dull. Thirty yards from where he stood was a bush four or five feet high, and though it was so thin that we could HB|^^^'~ ^ _j^^ ^1 t ^^^^^^H||||||MMdHH| -<*• . - . ^#%r mffUr*' .,[ ,-^S HiHlHi^HBMtokiiiii:ny lliL' eland From a plwtogra/iJi by Ediinttid Heller distinctly see him through the leaves, it shielded us from the vision of his small, piglike eyes as we advanced toward it, stooping and in single file, I leading. The big beast stood like an uncouth statue, his hide black in the sun- light; he seemed what he was, a monster surviving over from the world's past, from the days when the beasts of the prime ran riot in their strength, before man grew so cunning of brain and hand as to master them. So little did he dream of our presence that when we were a hundred yards off he actually lay down. 106 AFRICAN GAJVIE TRAILS Walking lightly, and with every sense keyed up, we at last reached the bush, and I pushed forward the safety of the double-barrelled Holland rifle which I was now to use for the first time on big game. As I stepped to one side of the bush so as to get a clear aim, with Slatter following, the rhino saw me and jumped to his feet with the agility of a polo pony. As he rose I put in the right barrel, the bullet going through both lungs. At the same moment he wheeled, the blood spouting from his nostrils, and galloped full on us. Before he could get quite all the way round in his head- long rush to reach us, I struck him with my left-hand barrel, the bullet entering between the neck and shoulder and piercing his heart. At the same instant Captain Slatter fired, his bullet entering the neck vertebrae. Ploughing up the ground with horn and feet, the great bull rhino, still head toward us, dropped just thirteen paces from where we stood. This was a wicked charge, for the rhino meant mischief and came on with the utmost determination. It is not safe to generalize from a- few instances. Judging from what I have since seen^ I am inclined to believe that both lion and buffalo are more dangerous game than rhino; yet the first two rhinos I met both charged, whereas we killed our first four lions and first four buffaloes without any of them charging, though two of each were stopped as they were on the point of charging. Moreover, our experience with this bull rhino illustrates what I have already said as to one animal being more dangerous under certain conditions, and another more dangerous under different conditions. If it had been a lion instead of a rhino, my first bullet would, I believe, have knocked all the charge out of it; but the vitality of the huge pachyderm was so great, its mere bulk counted for so much, that even such a hard-hitting rifle as my double Holland — than which I do not believe there exists a better weapon for heavy game — could not stop it outright, although either of the wounds inflicted would have been fatal in a few seconds. i c- ■^ i ^ 2 f ~i 'S> ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 109 Leaving a couple of men with the dead rhino, to protect it from the Wakamba by day and the hons by night, we rode straight to camp, which we reached at sunset. It was necessary to get to work on the two dead beasts as soon as possible in order to be sure of preserving their skins. Heller was the man to be counted on for this task. He it was who handled all the skins, who, in other words, was making the expedition of permanent value so far as big game was concerned; and no work at any hour of the day or night ever came amiss to him. He had already trained eight Wakamba porters to act as skinners under his super- vision. On hearing of our success, he at once said that we ought to march out to the game that night so as to get to work by daylight. Moreover, we were not comfortable at leaving only two men with each carcass, for lions were both bold and plentiful. The moon rose at eight and we started as soon as she was above the horizon. We did not take the horses, be- cause there was no water where we were going, and fur- thermore we did not like to expose them to a possible attack by lions. The march out by moonlight was good fun, for though I had been out all day, I had been riding, not walk- ing, and so was not tired. A hundred porters went with us so as to enable us to do the work quickly and bring back to camp the skins and all the meat needed, and these por- ters carried water, food for breakfast, and what little was necessary for a one-night camp. We tramped along in sin- gle file under the moonlight, up and down the hills, and through the scattered thorn forest. Kermit and Medlicott went first, and struck such a pace that after an hour we had to halt them so as to let the tail end of the file of porters catch up. Then Captain Slatter and I set a more deco- rous pace, keeping the porters closed up in line behind us. In another hour we began to go down a long slope toward a pin-point of light in the distance which we knew was the fire by the rhinoceros. The porters, like the big children they were, felt in high feather, and began to chant to an accom- 110 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS panlment of whistling and horn-blowing as we tramped through the dry grass which was flooded with silver by the moon, now high in the heavens. As soon as we reached the rhino, Heller with his Wakamba skinners pushed forward the three-quarters of a mile to the eland, returning after midnight with the skin and all the best parts of the meat. Around the dead rhino the scene was lit up both by the moon and by the flicker of the fires. The porters made their camp under a small tree a dozen rods to one side of the carcass, building a low circular fence of branches on which they hung their bright-colored blankets, two or three big fires blazing to keep off possible lions. Half as far on the other side of the rhino a party of naked savages had established their camp, if camp it could be called, for really all they did was to squat down round a couple of fires with a few small bushes disposed round about. The rhino had been opened, and they had already taken out of the carcass what they regarded as titbits and what we certainly did not 'grudge them. Between the two camps lay the huge dead beast, his hide glistening in the moon- light. In each camp the men squatted around the fires chatting and laughing as they roasted strips of meat on long sticks, the fitful blaze playing over them, now leaving them in darkness, now bringing them out into a red relief. Our own tent was pitched under another tree a hundred yards off, and when I went to sleep, I could still hear the drumming and chanting of our feasting porters; the sav- ages were less at ease, and their revel was quiet. Early next morning I went back to camp, and soon after reaching there again started out for a hunt. In the after- noon I came on giraffes and got up near enough to shoot at them. But they are such enormous beasts that I thought them far nearer than they were. My bullet fell short, and they disappeared among the mimosas, at their strange leisurely looking gallop. Of all the beasts in an African landscape none is more striking than the giraffe. Usually ■»\%&i 112 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS it is found in small parties or in herds of fifteen or twenty or more individuals. Although it will drink regularly if occasion offers, it is able to get along without water for months at a time, and frequents by choice the dry plains or else the stretches of open forest where the trees are scattered and ordinarily somewhat stunted. Like the rhinoceros — the ordinary or prehensile-lipped rhinoceros — the giraffe is a browsing and not a grazing animal. The leaves, buds, and twigs of the mimosas or thorn-trees form its customary food. Its extraordinary height enables it to bring into play to the best possible advantage its noteworthy powers of vision, and no animal is harder to approach unseen. Again and again I have made it out a mile off or rather have seen it a mile off when it was pointed out to me, and looking at it through my glasses, would see that it was gazing steadily at us. It is a striking-looking animal and handsome in its way, but its length of leg and neck and sloping back make it appear awkward even at rest. When alarmed it may go off at a long swinging pace or walk, but if really fright- ened it strikes into a peculiar gallop or canter. The tail is cocked and twisted, and the huge hind legs are thrown forward well to the outside of the forelegs. The movements seem deliberate and the giraffe does not appear to be going at a fast pace, but if it has any start a horse must gallop hard to overtake it. When it starts on this gait, the neck may be dropped forward at a sharp angle with the straight line of the deep chest, and the big head is thrust in advance. They are defenceless things and, though they may kick at a man who incautiously comes within reach, they are in no way dangerous. The following day I again rode out with Captain Slat- ter. During the morning we saw nothing except the ordi- nary game, and we lunched on a hill-top, ten miles distant from camp, under a huge fig-tree with spreading branches and thick, deep -green foliage. Throughout the time we were taking lunch a herd of zebras watched us from near by, standing motionless with their ears pricked forward, ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE lis their beautifully striped bodies showing finely in the sun- light. We scanned the country round about with our glasses, and made out first a herd of elands, a mile in our rear, and then three giraffes a mile and a half in our front. I wanted a bull eland, but I wanted a giraffe still more, and we mounted our horses and rode tow- ard where the three tall beasts stood, on an open hill-side with trees thinly scattered over it. Half a mile from them we left the horses in a thick belt of timber beside a dry watercourse, and went forward on foot. There was no use in trying a stalk, for that would merely have aroused the giraffe's sus- picion. But we knew they were accustomed to the passing and repassing of Wakamba men and women, whom they did not fear if they kept at a reasonable distance, so we walked in single file diagonally in their direc- tion; that is, toward a tree which I judged to be about three hundred yards from them. I was carrying the Win- chester loaded with full metal-patched bullets. I wished to get for the museum both a bull and a cow. One of the three giraffes was much larger than the other two, and as he was evidently a bull I thought the two others were cows. As we reached the tree the giraffes showed symptoms of uneasiness. One of the smaller ones began to make off, Masai Elmoran, Machakos road station From a photograph by Edmund Hellet 114 AFRICAN GAI^IE TRAILS and both the others shifted their positions slightly, curling their tails. I instantly dropped on my knee, and getting the bead just behind the big bull's shoulder, I fired with the three-hundred-yard sight. I heard the *'pack" of the bullet as it struck just where I aimed; and away went all three giraffes at their queer rocking-horse canter. Running for- ward I emptied my magazine, firing at the big bull and also at one of his smaller companions, and then, slipping into the barrel what proved to be a soft-nosed bullet, I fired at the latter again. The giraffe was going straightaway and it was a long shot, at four or five hundred yards; but by good luck the bullet broke its back and down it came. The others were now getting over the crest of the hill, but the big one was evidently sick, and we called and beckoned to the two saises to hurry up with the horses. The moment they arrived we jumped on, and Captain Slatter cantered up a neighboring hill so as to mark the direction in which the giraffes went if I lost sight of them. Meanwhile I rode full speed after the giant quarry. I was on the tranquil sorrel, the horse I much preferred in riding down game of any kind, because he had a fair turn of speed, and yet was good about letting me get on and off. As soon as I reached the hill-crest I saw the giraffes ahead of me, not as far off as I had feared, and I raced toward them without regard to rotten ground and wart-hog holes. The wounded one lagged behind, but when I got near he put on a spurt, and as I thought I was close enough I leaped off, throwing the reins over the sorrel's head, and opened fire. Down went the big bull, and I thought my task was done. But as I went back to mount the sorrel he struggled to his feet again and disappeared after his companion among the trees, which were thicker here, as we had reached the bottom of the valley. So I tore after him again, and in a minute came to a dry watercourse. Scrambling into and out of this I saw the giraffes ahead of me just begin- ning the ascent of the opposite slope; and touching the horse with the spur we flew after the wounded bull. This I ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 115 time I made up my mind I would get up close enough; but Tranquillity did not quite like the look of the thing ahead of him. He did not refuse to come up to the giraffe, but he evidently felt that, with such an object close by and evident in the landscape, it behooved him to be careful as to what A young bull giraflfe, shot by Mr. Roosevelt at Kilimakiu Front a photograph by Edmund Heller might be hidden therein, and he shied so at each bush we passed that we progressed in series of loops. So off I jumped, throwing the reins over his head, and opened fire once more; and this time the great bull went down for good. Tranquillity recovered his nerve at once and grazed contentedly while I admired the huge proportions and beautiful coloring of my prize. In a few minutes Captain Slatter loped up, and the gun-bearers and saises followed. 116 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS As if by magic, three or four Wakamba turned up immedi- ately afterward, their eyes glistening at the thought of the feast ahead for the whole tribe. It was mid-afternoon, and there was no time to waste. My sais, Simba, an excel- lent long-distance runner, was sent straight to camp to get Heller and pilot him back to the dead giraffes. Beside each of the latter, for they had fallen a mile apart, we left a couple of men to build fires. Then we rode toward camp. To my regret, the smaller giraffe turned out to be a young bull and not a cow. At this very time, and utterly without our knowledge, there was another giraffe hunt going on. Sir Alfred had taken out Kermit and MedHcott, and they came across a herd of a dozen giraffes right out in the open plains. Med- licott*s horse was worn out and he could not keep up, but both the others were fairly well mounted. Both were light men and hard riders, and although the giraffes had three- quarters of a mile the start, it was not long before both were at the heels of the herd. They singled out the big bull, which by the way turned out to be an even bigger bull than mine, and fired at him as they galloped. In such a head- long helter-skelter chase, however, it is no easy matter to score a hit from horseback unless one is very close up; and Sir Alfred made up his mind to try to drive out the bull from the rest of the herd. He succeeded; but at this mo- ment his horse put a forefoot into a hole and turned a com- plete somersault, almost wrenching out his shoulder. Sir Alfred was hurled off head over heels, but even as he rolled over, clutching his rifle, he twisted himself round to his knees, and took one last shot at the flying giraffe. This left Kermit alone and he galloped hard on the giraffe's heels, firing again and again with his Winchester. Finally his horse became completely done out and fell behind; whereupon Kermit jumped off, and being an excellent long-distance runner, ran after the giraffe on foot for more than a mile. But he did not need to shoot again. The great beast had been mortally wounded and it suddenly II 118 AFRICAN GAME TRAH^S slowed down, halted, and fell over dead. As a matter of curiosity we kept the Winchester bullets both from Ker- mit's giraffe and from mine. I made a point of keeping as many as possible of the bullets with which the different animals were slain so as to see just what was done by the different types of rifles we had with us. When I reached camp I found that Heller had already started. Next morning I rode down to see him and found him hard at work with the skins; but as it would take him two or three days to finish them and put them in condition for transport, we decided that the safari should march back to the Potha camp, and that from thence we would send Percival's ox wagon to bring back to the camp all the skins, Heller and his men accompanying him. The plan was carried out, and the following morning we shifted the big camp as proposed. Heller, thus left behind, came near having an unpleas- ant adventure. He slept in his own tent, and his Wakamba skinners slept under the fly not far off. One night they let the fires die dowji and were roused at midnight by hearing the grunting of a hungry lion apparently not a dozen yards off in the darkness. Heller quickly lit his lantern and sat up with his shot-gun loaded with bird shot, the only weapon he had with him. The lion walked round and round the tent, grunting at intervals. Then, after some minutes of suspense, he drew off. While the grunting had been audible, not a sound came from the tent of the Wa- kambas, who all cowered under their blankets in perfect silence. But once he had gone there was a great chatter- ing and in a few minutes the fires were roarings nor were they again suffered to die down. Heller's skinners had grown to work very well when under his eye. He had encountered much difficulty in get- ting men who would do the work, and had tried the rep- resentatives of various tribes, but without success until he struck the Wakamba. These were real savages who filed their teeth and delighted in raw flesh, and Heller's « ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 119 explanation of their doing well was that their taste for the raw flesh kept them thoroughly interested in their job, so that they learned without difficulty. The porters speedily christened each of the white men by some title of their own, using the ordinary Swahili title of Bwana (master) as a prefix. Heller was the Bwana Who Skinned; Loring, who collected the small mammals, was named^ merely descriptively, the Mouse Master, Bwana Pania. I was The Percival family From a photograph by Edmund Heller always called Bwana Makuba, the chief or Great Master; Kermit was first called Bwana Medogo, the young mas- ter, and afterward was christened '' the Dandy," Bwana Merodadi. From Potha the safari went in two days to McMillan's place, Juja Farm, on the other side of the Athi. I stayed behind, as I desired to visit the American Mission Station at Machakos. Accordingly, Sir Alfred and I rode thither. Machakos has long been a native town, for it was on the route formerly taken by the Arab caravans that went from the coast to the interior after slaves and ivory. Riding toward it we passed herd after herd of cattle, sheep, and goats, each guarded by two or three savage herdsmen. The little town itself was both interesting and attractive. 120 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Besides the natives there were a number of Indian traders and the EngHsh commissioner and assistant commissioner, with a small body of native soldiers. The latter not a long time before had been just such savages as those round about them, and the change for the better wrought in their phy- sique and morale by the ordered discipline to which they had submitted themselves could hardly be exaggerated. When we arrived, the commissioner and his assistant were engaged in cross-examining some neighboring chiefs as to the cattle sickness. The English rule in Africa has been of incalculable benefit to Africans themselves, and indeed this is true of the rule of most European nations. Mistakes have been made, of course, but they have proceeded at least as often from an unwise effort to accomplish too much in the way of beneficence, as from a desire to exploit the natives. Each of the civilized nations that has taken posses- sion of any part of Africa has had its own peculiar good qualities and its own peculiar defects. Some of them have done too much in supervising and ordering the lives of the natives, and in interfejing with their practices and customs. The English error, like our own under similar conditions, has, if anything, been in the other direction. The effort has been to avoid wherever possible all interference with tribal customs, even when of an immoral and repulsive character, and to do no more than what is obviously neces- sary, such as insistence upon keeping the peace and prevent- ing the spread of cattle disease. Excellent reasons can be advanced in favor of this policy, and it must always be remembered that a fussy and ill-considered benevolence is more sure to awaken resentment than cruelty itself; while the natives are apt to resent deeply even things that are ob- viously for their ultimate welfare. Yet I cannot help think- ing that with caution and wisdom it would be possible to proceed somewhat farther than has yet been the case in the direction of pushing upward some at least of the East African tribes: and this though I recognize fully that many of these tribes are of a low and brutalized type. Having I ON SAFAKI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 121 said this much in the way ot criticism, I wish to add my tribute of unstinted admiration for the disinterested and efficient work being done, aHke in the interest of the white man and the black, by the government officials whom I Group of skin-laden mules passing by the Bondoni waterhole on their way to the railroad From a photograph by Kerinit Roosevelt met in East Africa. They are men in whom their country has every reason to feel a just pride. We lunched with the American missionaries. Mission work among savages offers many difficulties, and often the wisest and most earnest effort meets with dishearteningly little reward; while lack of common-sense, and of course, above all, lack of a firm and resolute disinterestedness, in- sures the worst kind of failure. There are missionaries who do not do well, just as there are men in every conceivable walk of life who do not do well; and excellent men who are not missionaries, including both government officials 122 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS and settlers, are only too apt to jump at the chance of criti- cising a missionary for every alleged sin of either omission or commission. Finally, zealous missionaries, fervent in the faith, do not always find it easy to remember that sav- ages can only be raised by slow steps, that an empty adhe- rence to forms and ceremonies amounts to nothing, that industrial training is an essential in any permanent upward movement, and that the gradual elevation of mind and character is a prerequisite to the achievement of any kind of Christianity which is worth calling such. Nevertheless, after all this has been said, it remains true that the good done by missionary effort in Africa has been incalculable. There are parts of the great continent, and among them I include many sections of East Africa, which can be made a white man's country; and in these parts every effort should be made to favor the growth of a large and prosperous white population. But over most of Africa the problem for the white man is to govern, with wisdom and firmness, and when necessary with severity, but always with an eye single to their own interests and development, the black and brown races. To do this needs sympathy and devotion no less than strength and wisdom, and in the task the part to be played by the missionary and the part to be played by the official are alike great, and the two should work hand in hand. After returning from Machakos, I spent the night at Sir Alfred's, and next morning said good-by with most genu- ine regret to my host and his family. Then, followed by my gun-bearers and sais, I rode off across the Athi Plains. Through the bright white air the sun beat down merci- lessly, and the heat haze wavered above the endless flats of scorched grass. Hour after hour we went slowly for- ward, through the morning, and through the burning heat of the equatorial noon, until in mid-afternoon we came to the tangled tree growth which fringed the half-dried bed of the Athi. Here I off-saddled for an hour; then, mounting, I crossed the river-bed where it was waterless, and before evening fell I rode up to Juja Farm. CHAPTER V JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD At Juja Farm we were welcomed with the most gener- ous hospitahty by my fellow-countryman and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. W. N. McMillan. Selous had been staying with them, and one afternoon I had already ridden over from Sir Alfred's ranch to take tea with them at their other house, on the beautiful Mua hills. Juja Farm lies on the edge of the Athi Plains, and the house stands near the junction of the Nairobi and Rewero Rivers. The house, like almost all East African houses, was of one story, a broad, vine-shaded veranda running around it. There were numerous out-buildings of every kind; there were flocks and herds, cornfields, a vegetable garden, and, immediately in front of the house, a very pretty flower garden, carefully tended by unsmiling Ki- kuyu savages. All day long these odd creatures worked at the grass and among the flower beds; according to the custom of their tribe their ears were slit so as to enable them to stretch the lobes to an almost unbelievable extent, and in these apertures they wore fantastically carved na- tive ornaments. One of them had been attracted by the shining surface of an empty tobacco can, and he wore this in one ear to match the curiously carved wooden drum he carried in the other. Another, whose arms and legs were massive with copper and iron bracelets, had been given a blanket because he had no other garment; he got along quite well with the blanket excepting when he had to use the lawn mower, and then he would usually wrap the blan- ket around his neck and handle the lawn mower with the evident feeling that he had done all that the most exacting conventionalism could require. 123 124 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS The house boys and gun-bearers, and most of the boys who took care of the horses, were Somahs, whereas the cattle-keepers who tended the herds of cattle were Masai, and the men and women who worked in the fields were Kikuyus. The three races had nothing to do with one another, and the few Indians had nothing to do with any of them. The Kikuyus lived in their beehive huts scattered in small groups; the Somalis all dwelt in their own little village on one side of the farm; and half a mile off the Masai dwelt in their village. Both the Somalis and Masai were fine, daring fellows; the Somalis were Mohammedans and horsemen; the Masai were cattle-herders, who did their work as they did their fighting, on foot, and were wild heathen of the most martial type. They looked carefully after the cattle, and were delighted to join in the chase of dangerous game, but regular work they thoroughly de- spised. Sometimes when we had gathered a mass of Ki- kuyus or of our own porters together to do some job, two or three Masai would stroll up to look on with curiosity, sword in belt and great spear in hand; their features were well cut, their hair curiously plaited, and they had the erect carriage and fearless bearing that naturally go with a soldierly race. Within the house, with its bedrooms and dining-room, its library and drawing-room, and the cool, shaded veranda, everything was so comfortable that it was hard to realize that we were far in the interior of Africa and almost under the equator. Our hostess was herself a good rider and good shot, and had killed her lion; and both our host and a friend who was staying with him, Mr. Bulpett, were not merely mighty hunters who had bagged every important variety of large and dangerous game, but were also ex- plorers of note, whose travels had materially helped in widening the area of our knowledge of what was once the dark continent. Many birds sang in the garden, bulbuls, thrushes, and warblers; and from the narrow fringe of dense woodland along the edges of the rivers other birds called loudly, some JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 125 I he huu^c at Juja Farm Frotii a pliotograph by J. A Iden Loriiig with harsh, some with musical voices. Here for the first time we saw the honey-guide, the bird that insists upon leading any man it sees to honey, so that he may rob the hive and give it a share. Game came right around the house. Hartebeests, wilde- beests, and zebras grazed in sight on the open plain. The hippopotami that lived close by in the river came out at night into the garden. A couple of years before a rhino had come down into the same garden in broad daylight, and quite wantonly attacked one of the Kikuyu laborers, tossing him and breaking his thigh. It had then passed by the house out to the plain, where it saw an ox cart, which it immediately attacked and upset, cannoning off after its charge and passing up through the span of oxen, breaking all the yokes but fortunately not killing an animal. Then it met one of the men of the house on horseback, immediately assailed him, and was killed for its pains. My host was about to go on safari for a couple of months with Selous, and to manage their safari they had 12« AFRICAN GAME TRAILS one of the noted professional hunters of East Africa, Mr. H. Judd; and Judd was kind enough to take me out hunt- ing almost every day that we were at Juja. We would breakfast at dawn and leave the farm about the time that it grew light enough to see: ordinarily our course was eastward, toward the Athi, a few miles distant. These morning rides were very beautiful. In our front was the mountain mass of Donyo Sabuk, and the sun rose behind it, flooding the heavens with gold and crimson. The morning air blew fresh in our faces, and the unshod feet of our horses made no sound as they trod the dew-drenched grass. On every side game stood to watch us^ herds of hartebeests and zebras, and now and then a herd of wilde- beests or a few straggling old wildebeest bulls. Sometimes the zebras and kongoni were very shy, and took fright when we were yet a long way off^; at other times they would stand motionless and permit us to come within fair gun- shot, and after we had passed we could still see them re- garding us without their having moved. The wildebeests were warier; usually when we were yet a quarter of a mile or so distant, the herd, which had been standing with heads up, their short, shaggy necks and heavy withers giving the animals an unmistakable look, would take fright, and, with heavy curvets, and occasional running in semicircles, would make off, heads held down and long tails lashing the air. In the open woods which marked the border between the barren plains and the forested valley of the Athi, Kermit and I shot waterbuck and impalla. The waterbuck is a stately antelope with long, coarse gray hair and fine car- riage of the head and neck; the male alone carries horns. We found them usually in parties of ten or a dozen, both of bulls and cows; but sometimes a party of cows would go alone, or three or four bulls might be found together. In spite of its name, we did not find it much given to going in the water, although it would cross the river fearlessly when- ever it desired; it was, however, always found not very far JTJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 127 from water. It liked the woods and did not go many miles from the streams, yet we frequently saw it on the open plains a mile or two from trees, feeding in the vicinity of the zebra and the hartebeest. This was, however, usually quite early in the morning or quite late in the afternoon. Masai wan^v-.c ..^^. ..^Millan's ranch on the Mua hills From a photograph by Kermit Roosevtlt In the heat of the day it clearly preferred to be in the for- est, along the stream's edge, or in the bush-clad ravines. The impalla are found in exactly the same kind of country as the waterbuck, and often associate with them. To my mind they are among the most beautiful of all ante- lope. They are about the size of a white-tailed deer, their beautiful annulated horns making a single spiral, and 128 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS their coat is like satin with its contrasting shades of red and white. They have the most graceful movements of any animal I know, and it is extraordinary to see a herd start off when frightened, both bucks and does bounding clear over the tops of the tall bushes, with a peculiar bird- like motion and lightness. Usually a single old buck will be found with a large company of does and fawns; the other bucks go singly or in small parties. It was in the middle of May, and we saw fawns of all ages. When in the open, where, like the waterbuck, it often went in the morning and evening, the impalla was very shy, but I did not find it particularly so among the woods. In connection with shooting two of the impalla, there occurred little inci- dents which are worthy of mention. In one case I had just killed a waterbuck cow, hitting it at a considerable distance and by a lucky fluke, after a good deal of bad shooting. We started the porters in with the waterbuck, and then rode west through an open coun- try, dotted here and there with trees and with occasional ant-hills. In a few minutes we saw an impalla buck, and I crept up behind an ant-hill and obtained a shot at about two hundred and fifty yards. The buck dropped, and as I was putting in another cartridge I said to Judd that I didn't like to see an animal drop like that, so instanta- neously, as there was always the possibility that it might only be creased, and that if an animal so hurt got up, it always went off exactly as if unhurt. When we raised our eyes again to look for the impalla it had vanished. I was sure that we would never see it again, and Judd felt much the same way, but we walked in the direction toward which its head had been pointed, and Judd ascended an ant-hill to scan the surrounding country with his glasses. He did so, and after a minute remarked that he could not see the wounded impalla; when a sudden movement caused us to look down, and there it was, lying at our very feet, on the side of the ant-hill, unable to rise. I had been using a sharp-pointed bullet in the Springfield, and this makes JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 129 a big hole. The bullet had gone too far back, in front of the hips. I should not have wondered at all if the animal had failed to get up after falling, but I did not understand why, as it recovered enough from the shock to be able to get up, it had not continued to travel, instead of falling after going one hundred yards. Indeed, I am inclined to think that a deer or prongbuck, hit in the same fashion, would have gone off and would have given a long chase before being overtaken. Judging from what others have said, I have no doubt that African game is very tough and succumbs less easily to wounds than is the case with animals of the northern temperate zone; but in my own experience, I several times saw African antelopes succumb to wounds quicker than the average northern ani- mal would have succumbed to a similar wound. One was this impalla. Another was the cow eland I first shot; her hind leg was broken high up, and the wound, though crippling, was not such as would have pre- vented a moose or wapiti from hobbling away on three legs; yet in spite of hard struggles the eland was wholly unable to regain her feet. The impalla thus shot, by the way, although in fine condition and the coat of glossy beauty, was infested by ticks; around the horns the horrid little insects were clus- tered in thick masses for a space of a diameter of some inches. It was to me marvellous that they had not set up inflammation or caused great sores, for they were so thick that at a distance of a few feet they gave the appear- riead of a waterbuck bull shot by Kermit Roosevelt From a phfltpgraph by Edmund Heller 130 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ance of there being some big gland or bare place at the root of each horn. The other impalla buck also showed an unexpected softness, succumbing to a wound which I do not believe would have given me either a white-tailed or a black-tailed deer. I had been vainly endeavoring to get a waterbuck bull, and as the day was growing hot I was riding home- ward, scanning the edge of the plain where it merged into the trees that extended out from the steep bank that hemmed in one side of the river-bottom. From time to time we would see an impalla or a waterbuck making its way from the plain back to the river-bottom, to spend the day in the shade. One of these I stalked, and after a good deal of long-range shooting broke a hind leg high up. It got out of sight and we rode along the edge of the steep descent which ltd down into the river-bottom proper. In the bot- tom there were large, open, grassy places, while the trees made a thick fringe along the river course. We had given up the impalla and turned out toward the plain, when one of my gun-bearers whistled to us and said he had seen the wounded animal cross the bottom and go into the fringe of trees bounding a deep pool in which we knew there were both hippos and crocodiles. We were off our horses at once, and, leaving them at the top, scrambled down the descent and crossed the bottom to the spot indicated. The impalla had lain down as soon as it reached cover, and as we entered the fringe of wood I caught a glimpse of it getting up and making off. Yet fifty yards farther it stopped again, standing right on the brink of the pool, so close that when I shot it, it fell over into the water. When, after arranging for this impalla to be carried back to the farm, we returned to where our horses had been left, the boys told us with much excitement that there was a large snake near by; and sure enough a few yards off, coiled up in the long grass under a small tree, was a python. I could not see it distinctly, and using a solid bul- let I just missed the backbone, the bullet going through JTJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 131 the body about its middle. Immediately the snake lashed at me with open jaws, and then, uncoiling, came gliding rapidly in our direction. I do not think it was charging; I think it was merely trying to escape. But Judd, who was utterly unmoved by lion, leopard, or rhino, evidently held this snake in respect, and yelled to me to get out of the way. Accordingly, I jumped back a few feet, and the The python From a photograph by IV. N. McMillan snake came over the ground where I had stood; its evil genius then made it halt for a moment and raise its head to a height of perhaps three feet, and I killed it by a shot through the neck. The porters were much wrought up about the snake, and did not at all like my touching it and taking it up, first by the tail and then by the head. It was only twelve feet long. We tied it to a long stick and sent it in by two porters. Another day we beat for lions, but without success. We rode to a spot a few miles off, where we were joined by three Boer farmers. They were big, upstanding men, 132 AFRICAN GAI^IE TRAILS looking just as Boer farmers ought to look who had been through a war and had ever since led the adventurous life of frontier farmers in wild regions. They were accom- panied by a pack of big, rough-looking dogs, but were on foot, walking with long and easy strides. The dogs looked a rough-and-ready lot, but on this particular morn- ing showed themselves of little use; at any rate they put up nothing. But Kermit had a bit of deserved good luck. While the main body of us went down the river-bed, he and Mc- Millan, with a few natives, beat up a side ravine, down the middle of which ran the usual dry watercourse fringed with patches of brush. In one of these they put up a leop- ard, and saw it slinking forward ahead of them through the bushes. Then they lost sight of it, and came to the con- clusion that it was in a large thicket. So Kermit went on one side of it and McMillan on the other, and the beaters approached to try and get the leopard out. Of course none of the beaters had guns; their function was merely to make a disturbance and rouse the game, and they were cautioned on no account to get into danger. But the leopard did not wait to be driven. Without any warning, out he came and charged straight at Kermit, who stopped him when he was but six yards off with a bullet in the forepart of the body; the leopard turned, and as he galloped back Kermit hit him again, crippling him in the hips. The w^ounds were fatal, and they would have knocked the fight out of any animal less plucky and savage than the leopard; but not even in Africa is there a beast of more unflinching courage than this spotted cat. The beaters were much excited by the sight of the charge and the way in which it was stopped, and they pressed jubilantly forward, too heedlessly; one of them, who was on McMillan's side of the thicket, went too near it, and out came the wounded leopard at him. It was badly crippled or it would have got the beater at once; as it was, it was slowly overtaking him as he ran through the tall grass, when McMillan, standing on an JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 133 ant-heap, shot it again. Yet, in spite of having this third bullet in it, it ran down the beater and seized him, worrying him with teeth and claws; but it was weak because of its wounds, and the powerful savage wrenched himself free, while McMillan fired into the beast again; and back it went through the long grass into the thicket. There was a Kermit Roosevelt and the leopard From a J'liotograpli hy II'. .V. McMUlnn pause, and the wounded beater was removed to a place of safety, while a messenger was sent on to us to bring up the Boer dogs. But while they were waiting, the leopard, on its own initiative, brought matters to a crisis, for out it came again straight at Kermit, and this time it dropped dead to Kermit's bullet. No animal could have shown a more fearless and resolute temper. It was an old female, but small, its weight being a little short of seventy pounds. The smallest female cougar I ever killed was heavier than this, and one very big male cougar which I killed in Colo- 134 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS rado was three times the weight. Yet I have never heard of any cougar which displayed anything Hke the spirit and ferocity of this httle leopard, or which in any way approached it as a dangerous foe. It was sent back to camp in company with the wounded beater, after the wounds of the latter had been dressed; they were not seri- ous, and he was speedily as well ^^^^ as ever. ^^^^^L The rivers that bounded Juja ^^^^^^^k Farm, not only the Athi, but the ^BHJKIr Nairobi and Rewero, contained ^^^^Iw hippopotami and crocodiles in -^ the deep pools. I was particu- larly anxious to get one of the former, and early one morning Judd and I rode off across the plains, through the herds of graz- ing game seen dimly in the dawn, to the Athi. We reached the river, and, leaving our horses, went down into the wooded bot- tom, soon after sunrise. Judd had with him a Masai, a keen- eyed hunter, and I my two gun- bearers. We advanced with the utmost caution toward the brink of a great pool; on our way we saw a bushbuck, but of course did not dare to shoot at it, for hippopotami are wary, except in very unfrequented regions, and any noise will disturb them. As we crept noiselessly up to the steep bank which edged the pool, the sight was typically African. On the still water floated a crocodile, nothing but his eyes and nostrils visible. The bank was covered with a dense growth of trees, festooned with vines; among the branches sat herons; a little cormo- rant dived into the water; and a very small and brilliantly colored kingfisher, with a red beak and large turquoise Native boy carryinjj; in a leopard shot by Kermit Roosevelt near Juja Ranch Prom a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 137 crest, perched unheedingly within a few feet of us. Here and there a dense growth of the tall and singularly grace- ful papyrus rose out of the water, the feathery heads, which crowned the long smooth green stems, waving gently to and fro. We scanned the waters carefully, and could see no sign of hippos, and, still proceeding with the utmost caution, we Judd permaiiganating the beater who was mauled b.y the leopard From a photograph by W. N. McMillan moved a hundred yards farther down to another lookout. Here the Masai detected a hippo head a long way off on the other side of the pool; and we again drew back and started cautiously forward to reach the point opposite which he had seen the head. But we were not destined to get that hippo. Just as we had about reached the point at which we had intended to turn in toward the pool, there was a succession of snorts in our front and the sound of the trampling of heavy feet 138 APRICAN GAME TRAILS and of a big body being shoved through a dense mass of tropical bush. My companions called to me in loud whis- pers that it was a rhinoceros coming at us, and to ** Shoot, shoot/' In another moment the rhinoceros appeared, twitch- ing its tail and tossing and twisting its head from side to side as it came toward us. It did not seem to have very good horns, and I would much rather not have killed it; but there hardly seemed any alternative, for it certainly showed every symptom of being bent on mischief. My first shot, at under forty yards, produced no effect what- ever, except to hasten its approach. I was using the Win- chester, with full-jacketed bullets; my second bullet went in between the neck and shoulder, bringing it to a halt. I fired into the shoulder again, and as it turned toward the bush I fired into its flank both the bullets still remaining in my magazine. For a moment or two after it disappeared we heard the branches crash, and then there was silence. In such cover a wounded rhino requires cautious handling, and as quietly as possible we walked through the open forest along the edge of the dense thicket into which the animal had returned. The thicket was a tangle of thorn-bushes, reeds, and small, low-branching trees; it was impossible to see ten feet through it, and a man could only penetrate it with the utmost slowness and difficulty, whereas the movements of the rhino were very little impeded. At the far end of the thicket we examined the grass to see if the rhino had passed out, and sure enough there was the spoor, with so much blood along both sides that it was evident the animal was badly hit. It led across this space and into another thicket of the same character as the first; and again we stole cautiously along the edge some ten yards out. I had taken the heavy Holland double-barrel, and with the safety catch pressed forward under my thumb, I trod gingerly through the grass, peering into the thicket and expectant of developments. In a minute there was a furious snorting and crashing directly opposite us in the JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 139 thicket, and I brought up my rifle; but the rhino did not quite place us, and broke out of the cover in front, some thirty yards away; and I put both barrels into and behind the shoulder. The terrific striking force of the heavy gun told at once, and the rhino wheeled, and struggled back into the thicket, and we heard it fall. With the utmost The second rhino From a photograph by J. A Iden Loring caution, bending and creeping under the branches, we made our way in, and saw the beast lying with its head toward us. We thought it was dead, but would take no chances; and I put in another, but as it proved needless, heavy bullet. It was an old female, considerably smaller than the bull I had already shot, with the front horn measuring four- teen inches as against his nineteen inches; as always with rhinos, it was covered with ticks, which clustered thickly in the folds and creases of the skin, around and in the ears, 140 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS and in all the tender places. McMillan sent out an ox wagon and brought it in to the house, where we weighed it. It was a little over two thousand two hundred pounds. It had evidently been in the neighborhood in which we found it for a considerable time, for a few hundred yards away we found its stamping ground, a circular spot where the earth had been all trampled up and kicked about, ac- cording to the custom of rhinoceroses; they return day after day to such places to deposit their dung, which is then kicked about with the hind feet. As with all our other specimens, the skin was taken off and sent back to the National Museum. The stomach was filled with leaves and twigs, this kind of rhinoceros browsing on the tips of the branches by means of its hooked, prehensile upper lip. Now I did not want to kill this rhinoceros, and I am not certain that it really intended to charge us. It may very well be that if we had stood firm it would, after much threatening and snorting, have turned and made ofi^; vet- eran hunters like Selous could, I doubt not, have afforded to wait and see what happened. But I let it get within forty yards, and it still showed every symptom of meaning mis- chief, and at a shorter range I could not have been sure of stopping it in time. Often under such circumstances the rhino does not mean to charge at all, and is acting in a spirit of truculent and dull curiosity; but often, when its motions and actions are indistinguishable from those of an animal which does not mean mischief, it turns out that a given rhino does mean mischief. A year before I arrived in East Africa a surveyor was charged by a rhinoceros entirely without provocation; he was caught and killed. Chanler's companion on his long expedition, the Austrian Von Hohnel, was very severely wounded by a rhino and nearly died; the animal charged through the line of march of the safari, and then deliberately turned, hunted down Von Hohnel, and tossed him. Again and again there have been such experiences, and again and again hunters who did not wish to kill rhinos have been forced to do so in JUJA FARM; HIPPO AND LEOPARD 141 order to prevent mischief. Under such circumstances it is not to be expected that men will take too many chances when face to face with a creature whose actions are threat- ening and whose intentions it is absolutely impossible to divine. In fact, I do not see how the rhinoceros can be per- manently preserved, save in very out-of-the-way places or in regular game reserves. There is enough interest and ex- citement in the pursuit to attract every eager young hunter, and, indeed, very many eager old hunters; and the beast's stupidity, curiosity, and truculence make up a combination of qualities which inevitably tend to insure its destruction. As we brought home the whole body of this rhinoceros, and as I had put into it eight bullets, five from the Win- chester and three from the Holland, I was able to make a tolerably fair comparison between the two. With the full-jacketed bullets of the Winchester I had mortally wounded the animal; it would have died in a short time, and it was groggy when it came out of the brush in its final charge; but they inflicted no such smashing blow as the heavy bullets of the Holland. Moreover, when they struck the heavy bones they tended to break into frag- ments, while the big Holland bullets ploughed through. The Winchester and the Springfield were the weapons one of which I always carried in my own hand, and for any ordinary game I much preferred them to any other rifles. The Winchester did admirably with lions, giraffes, elands, and smaller game, and, as will be seen, with hippos. For heavy game like rhinoceroses and buffaloes, I found that for me personally the heavy Holland was unquestion- ably the proper weapon. But in writing this I wish most distinctly to assert my full knowledge of the fact that the choice of a rifle is almost as much a matter of personal idiosyncrasy as the choice of a friend. The above must be taken as merely the expression of my personal pref- erences. It will doubtless arouse as much objection among the ultra-champions of one type of gun as among the ultra- champions of another. The truth is that any good modern 142 AFRICAN GMIE TRAILS rifle is good enough. The determining factor is the man behind the gun. In the afternoon of the day on which we killed the rhino Judd took me out again to try for hippos, this time in the Rewero, which ran close by the house. We rode upstream a couple of miles. Then we sent back our horses and walked down the river bank as quietly as possible, Judd scanning the pools, and the eddies in the running stream, from every point of vantage. Once we aroused a crocodile, which plunged into the water. The stream was full of fish, some of considerable size; and in the meadow-land on our side we saw a gang of big, black wild-geese feeding. But we got within half a mile of McMillan's house with- out seeing a hippo, and the light was rapidly fading. Judd announced that we would go home, but took one last look around the next bend, and instantly sank to his knees, beckoning to me. I crept forward on all-fours, and he pointed out to me an object in the stream, fifty yards off, under the overhanging branch of a tree, which jutted out from the steep bank opposite. In that light I should not myself have recognized it as a hippo head; but it was one, looking toward us, with the ears up and the nostrils, eyes, and forehead above water. I aimed for the centre; the sound told that the bullet had struck somewhere on the head, and the animal disappeared without a splash. Judd was sure I had killed, but I was by no means so confident myself, and there was no way of telling until next morning, for the hippo always sinks when shot and does not rise to the surface for several hours. Accordingly, back we walked to the house. At sunrise next morning Cuninghame, Judd, and I, with a crowd of porters, were down at the spot. There was a very leaky boat in which Cuninghame, Judd, and I embarked, intending to drift and paddle downstream while the porters walked along the bank. We did not have far to go, for as we rounded the first point we heard the por- ters break into guttural exclamations of delight, and there I Towing the hippo shot by Mr. Roosevelt From a photograph by W. N. AIcMillau Landing the hippo From a photograph by IV. N. McMillan 144 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ahead of us, by a little island of papyrus, was the dead hippo. With the help of the boat it was towed to a con- venient landing-j)lace, and then the porters dragged it ashore. It was a cow, of good size for one dwelling in a small river, where they never approach the dimensions of those making their homes in a great lake like the Vic- toria Nyanza. This one weighed nearly two thousand eight hundred pounds, and I could well believe that a big lake bull would weigh between three and four tons. In wild regions hippos rest on sandy bars, and even come ashore to feed, by day; but wherever there are in- habitants they land to feed only at night. Those in the Rewero continually entered McMillan's garden. Where they are numerous they sometimes attack small boats and kill the people in them; and where they are so plentiful they do great damage to the plantations of the natives, so much so that they then have to be taken off the list of preserved game and their destruction encouraged. Their enormous jaws sweep in (juantities of plants, or lush grass, or corn, or vegetables, at a mouthful, while their appetites are as gigantic as their bodies. In spite of their short legs, they go at a good gait on shore, but the water is their real home, and they always seek it when alarmed. They dive and float wonderfully, rising to the surface or sinking to the bottom at will, and they gallop at speed along the bottoms of lakes or rivers, with their bodies wholly sub- merged ; but as is natural enough, in view of their big bodies and short legs, they are not fast swimmers for any length of time. They make curious and unmistakable trails along the banks of any stream in which they dwell; their short legs are wide apart, and so when they tread out a path they leave a ridge of high soil down the centre. W^here they have lived a long time, the rutted paths are worn deep into the soil, but always carry this distinguishing middle ridge. The full-jacketed Winchester bullet had gone straight into the brain; the jacket had lodged in the cranium, but I 146 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS the lead went on, entering the neck and breaking the atlas vertebra. At Juja Farm many animals were kept in cages. They included a fairly friendly leopard, and five lions, two of which were anything but friendly. There were three cheetahs, nearly full-grown; these were continually taken out on leashes, Mrs. McMillan strolling about with them and leading them to the summer-house. They were good- tempered, but they did not lead well. Cheetahs are inter- esting beasts; they are aberrant cats, standing very high on their legs, and with non-retractile claws like a dog. They are. nearly the size of a leopard, but are not ordinarily anything like as ferocious, and prey on the smaller antelope, occasionally taking something as big as a half-grown kon- goni. For a short run, up to say a quarter of a mile or even perhaps half a mile, they are the swiftest animals on earth, and with a good start easily overtake the fastest antelope; but their bolt is soon shot, and on the open plain they can readily be galloped down with a horse. When they sit on their haunches. their attitude is that neither of a dog nor of a cat so much as of a big monkey. On the whole, they are much more easily domesticated than most other cats, but, as with all highly developed wild creatures, they show great individual variability of character and disposi- tion. They have a very curious note, a birdlike chirp, in uttering which they twist the upper lip as if whistling. When I first heard it I was sure that it was uttered by some bird, and looked about quite a time before finding that it was the call of a cheetah. Then there was a tame wart-hog, very friendly, indeed, which usually wandered loose, and was as comical as pigs generally are, with its sudden starts and grunts. Finally, there was a young tommy buck and a Grant's gazelle doe, both of which were on good terms with every one and needed astonishingly little looking after to prevent their straying. When I was returning to the house on the morn- ing I killed the rhinoceros, I met the string of porters and JUJA FARM: HIPPO AND LEOPARD 147 the ox wagon just after they had left the gate on their way to the carcass. The Grant doe had been attracted by the departure, and was following immediately behind the last porter; a wild-looking Masai warrior, to whom, as I learned, the especial care of the gazelle had been intrusted for that day, was running as hard as he could after her from the gate; when he overtook her he ran in between her and the .Mrs. McMillan and cheetah From a photograph by IV. N. McMillan rearmost porter, and headed her for the farm gate, utter- ing what sounded like wild war-cries and brandishing his spear. They formed a really absurd couple, the little doe slowly and decorously walking back to the farm, quite un- moved by the clamor and threats, while her guardian, the very image of what a savage warrior should look when on the war-path, walked close behind, waving his spear and uttering deep-toned shouts, with what seemed a ludicrous disproportion of effort to the result needed. Antelopes speedily become very tame and recognize 148 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS clearly their friends. Leslie Tarlton's brother was keeping a couple of young kongoni and a partly grown Grant on his farm just outside Nairobi. (The game comes right to the outskirts of Nairobi; one morning Kermit walked out from the McMillans' town-house, where we were staying, in company with Percival, the game ranger, and got pho- tographs of zebras, kongoni, and Kavirondo cranes; and a leopard sometimes came up through the garden on to the veranda of the house itself.) Tarlton's young antelopes went freely into the country round about, but never fled with the wild herds; and they were not only great friends with Tarlton's dogs, but recognized them as protectors. Hyenas and other beasts frequently came round the farm after nightfall, and at their approach the antelopes fled at speed to where the dogs were, and then could not be persuaded to leave them. We spent a delightful week at Juja Farm, and then moved to Kamiti Ranch, the neighboring farm, owned by Mr. Hugh H. Heatley, who had asked me to visit him for a buffalo hunt. While in the highlands of British East Africa it is utterly impossible for a stranger to realize that he is under the equator; the climate is delightful and healthy. It is a white man's country, a country which should be filled with white settlers; and no place could be more attrac- tive for visitors. There is no more danger to health inci- dent to an ordinary trip to East Africa than there is to an ordinary trip to the Riviera. Of course, if one goes on a hunting trip there is always a certain amount of risk, in- cluding the risk of fever, just as there would be if a man camped out in some of the Italian marshes. But the or- dinary visitor need have no more fear of his health than if he were travelling in Italy, and it is hard to imagine a trip better worth making than the trip from Mombasa to Nairobi and on to the Victoria Nyanza. CHAPTER VI A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI Heatley's Ranch comprises twenty thousand acres lying between the Rewero and Kamiti Rivers. It is seven- teen miles long, and four across at the widest place. It includes some as beautiful bits of natural scenery as can well be imagined, and though Heatley — a thorough farmer, and the son and grandson of farmers — was making it a successful farm, with large herds of cattle, much improved stock, hundreds of acres under cultivation, a fine dairy, and the like, yet it was also a game re- serve such as could not be matched either in Europe or America. From Juja Farm we marched a dozen miles and pitched our tent close beside the Kamiti. The Kamiti is a queer little stream, running for most of its course through a broad swamp of tall papyrus. Such a swamp is almost impenetrable. The papyrus grows to a height of over twenty feet, and the stems are so close together that in most places it is impossible to see anything at a distance of six feet. Ten yards from the edge, when within the swamp, I was wholly unable to tell in which direction the open ground lay, and could get out only by 149 Heatley with two leopard cubs he caught Frotn a photograph by Kfrmit Roosevelt 150 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS either following my back track or listening for voices. Underfoot, the mud and water are hip-deep. This swamp was the home of a herd of buffalo numbering perhaps a hundred individuals. They are semi-aquatic beasts, and their enormous strength enables them to plough through the mud and water and burst their way among the papy- rus stems without the slightest difficulty, whereas a man is nearly helpless when once he has entered the reedbeds. They had made paths hither and thither across the swamp, these paths being three feet deep in ooze and black water. There were little islands in the swamp on which they could rest. Toward its lower end, where it ran into the Nairobi, the Kamiti emerged. from the papyrus swamp and became a rapid brown stream of water with only here and there a papyrus cluster along its banks. The Nairobi, which cut across the lower end of the farm, and the Rewero, which bounded it on the other side from the Kamiti, were as different as possible from the latter. Both were rapid streams broken by riffle and water- fall, and running at the bottom of tree-clad valleys. The Nairobi Falls, which were on Heatley's Ranch, were sin- gularly beautiful. Heatley and I visited them one evening after sunset, coming home from a day's hunt. It was a ride I shall long remember. We left our men, and let the horses gallop. As the sun set behind us, the long lights changed the look of the country and gave it a beauty that had in it an element of the mysterious and the unreal. The mountains loomed both larger and more vague than they had been in the bright sunlight, and the plains lost their look of parched desolation as the afterglow came and went. We were galloping through a world of dim shade and dying color; and, in this world, our horses suddenly halted on the brink of a deep ravine from out of which came the thunder of a cataract. We reined up on a jutting point. The snowy masses of the fall foamed over a ledge on our right, and below at our feet was a great pool of swirling water. Thick-foliaged trees, of strange shape A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KMIITI 151 and festooned with creepers, climbed the sheer sides of the ravine. A black-and-white eagle perched in a blasted Falls on the Reweru River From a photograph by Edmund Heller tree top in front; and the bleached skull of a long-dead rhinoceros glimmered white near the brink to one side. On another occasion we took our lunch at the foot of 152 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Rewero Falls. These are not as high as the falls of the Nairobi, but they are almost as beautiful. We clambered down into the ravine a little distance below and made our way toward them, beside the brawling, rock-choked tor- rent. Great trees towered overhead, and among their tops the monkeys chattered and screeched. The fall itself was broken in two parts like a miniature Niagara, and the spray curtain shifted to and fro as the wind blew. The lower part of the farm, between the Kamiti and Rewero and on both sides of the Nairobi, consisted of immense rolling plains, and on these the game swarmed in almost incredible numbers. There were Grant's and Thomson's gazelles, of which we shot one or two for the table. There was a small herd of blue wildebeest, and among them one unusually large bull with an unusually fine head; Kermit finally killed him. There were plenty of wart-hogs, which were to be found feeding right out in the open, both in the morning and the evening. One day Kermit got a really noteworthy sow with tusks much longer than those of the average boar. He ran into her on horse- back after a sharp chase of a mile or two, and shot her from the saddle as he galloped nearly alongside, holding his rifle as the old buffalo-runners used to hold theirs, that is, not bringing it to his shoulder. I killed two or three half-grown pigs for the table, but I am sorry to say that I missed several chances at good boars. Finally one day I got up to just two hundred and fifty yards from a good boar as he stood broadside to me; firing with the little Spring- field I put the bullet through both shoulders, and he was dead when we came up. But of course the swarms of game consisted of zebra and hartebeest. At no time, when riding in any direction across these plains, were we ever out of sight of them. Sometimes they would act warily and take the alarm when we were a long distance off. At other times herds would stand and gaze at us while we passed within a couple of hundred yards. One afternoon we needed meat for the A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 1.58 safari, and Cunlnghame and I rode out to get it. Within half a mile we came upon big herds both of hartebeest and zebra. They stood to give me long-range shots at about three hundred yards. I wounded a zebra, after which Cuninghame rode. While he was off, I killed first a zebra Wildebeest bull shot by Kermit Roosevelt at Kamiti From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt and then a hartebeest, and shortly afterward a cloud of dust announced that Cuninghame was bringing a herd of game toward me. I knelt motionless, and the long files of red- coated hartebeest and brilliantly striped zebra came gallop- ing past. They were quite a distance off, but I had time for several shots at each animal I selected, and I dropped one more zebra and one more hartebeest, in addition, I 154 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS regret to add, to wounding another hartebeest. The four hartebeest and zebra lay within a space of a quarter of a mile; and half a mile further I bagged a tommy at two hundred yards — his meat was for our own table, the kon- goni and the zebra being for the safari. On another day, when Heatley and I were out together, he stationed me among some thin thorn-bushes on a little knoll, and drove the game by me, hoping to get me a shot at some wildebeest. The scattered thorn-bushes were only four or five feet high, and so thin that there was no diffi- culty in looking through them and marking every move- ment of the game as it approached. The wildebeest took the wrong direction and never came near me — though they certainly fared as badly as if they had done so, for they passed by Kermit, and it was on this occasion that he killed the big bull. A fine cock ostrich passed me and I much wished to shoot at him, but did not like to do so, because ostrich-farming is one of the staple industries of the region, and it is not well to have even the wild birds shot. The kongoni and the zebra streamed by me, herd after herd, hundreds and hundreds of them, many passing within fifty yards of my shelter, now on one side, now on the other; they went at an easy lope, and I was interested to see that many of the kongoni ran with their mouths open. This is an attitude which we usually associate with exhaustion, but such cannot have been the case with the kongoni — they had merely cantered for a mile or so. The zebra were, as usual, noisy, a number of them uttering their barking neigh as they passed. I do not know how it is ordinarily, but these particular zebra, all stallions by the way, kept their mouths open throughout the time they were neighing, and their ears pricked forward; they did not keep their mouths open while merely galloping, as did the kongoni. We had plenty of meat, and the naturalists had enough specimens; and I was glad that there was no need to harm the beautiful creatures. They passed so close that I could mark every slight movement, and the ripple of A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 155 the muscles under the skin. The very young fawns of the kongoni seemed to have httle fear of a horseman, if he ap- proached while they were lying motionless on the ground; but they would run from a man on foot. There were interesting birds, too. Close by the woods at the river's edge, we saw a big black ground hornbill walking about, on the look6ut for its usual dinner of small snakes and lizards. Large flocks of the beautiful Kavirondo ^^'hydah birds' dancing-ring From a photograpli by Kcfinit Roosevelt cranes stalked over the plains and cultivated fields, or flew by with mournful, musical clangor. But the most interest- ing birds we saw were the black whydah finches. The female is a dull-colored, ordinary-looking bird, somewhat like a female bobolink. The male in his courtship dress is clad in a uniform dark glossy suit, and his tail-feathers are almost like some of those of a barn-yard rooster, being over twice as long as the rest of the bird, with a downward curve at the tips. The females were generally found in flocks, in which there would often be a goodly number of males also, and when the flocks put on speed the males tended to drop behind. The flocks were feeding in Heat- 156 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ley's grain-fields, and he was threatening vengeance upon them. I was sorry, for the male birds certainly have habits of peculiar interest. They were not shy, although if we approached too near them in their favorite haunts, the grassland adjoining the papyrus beds, they would fly off and perch on the tops of the papyrus stems. The long tail hampers the bird in its flight, and it is often held at rather an angle downward, giving the bird a peculiar and almost insect-like appearance. But the marked and ex- traordinary peculiarity was the custom the cocks had of dancing in artificially made dancing-rings. For a mile and a half beyond our camp, down the course of the Kamiti, the grassland at the edge of the papyrus was thickly strewn with these dancing-rings. Each was about two feet in di- ameter, sometimes more, sometimes less. A tuft of grow- ing grass perhaps a foot high was left in the centre. Over the rest of the ring the grass was cut off close by the roots, and the blades strewn evenly over the surface of the ring. The cock bird would alight in the ring and hop to a height of a couple of feet, wings spread and motionless, tail drooping, and the head usually thrown back. As he came down he might or might not give an extra couple of little hops. After a few seconds he would repeat the motion, sometimes remaining almost in the same place, at other times going forward during and between the hops so as finally to go completely round the ring. As there were many scores of these dancing-places within a compara- tively limited territory, the effect was rather striking when a large number of birds were dancing at the same time. As one walked along, the impression conveyed by the birds continually popping above the grass and then immediately sinking back, was somewhat as if a man was making peas jump in a tin tray by tapping on it. The favorite dancing times were in the early morning, and, to a less extent, in the evening. We saw dancing-places of every age, some with the cut grass which strewed the floor green and fresh, others with the grass dried into hay and the bare earth showing through. A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 157 But the game we were after was the buffalo herd that haunted the papyrus swamp. As I have said before, the buffalo is by many hunters esteemed the most dangerous of African game. It is an enormously powerful beast with, in Heatley and a buffalo path Showing how the enormous strength of the buffalo enables him to burst his way among the papyrus stems which grow to a height of over twenty feet From a photograpli by Kerniit Roosevelt this country, a coat of black hair which becomes thin in the old bulls, and massive horns which rise into great bosses at the base, these bosses sometimes meeting in old age so as to cover the forehead with a frontlet of horn. Their habits vary much in different places. Where they are much persecuted, they lie in the densest cover, and only venture 158 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS out into the open to feed at night. But Heatley, though he himself had killed a couple of bulls, and the Boer farmer who was working for him another, had preserved the herd from outside molestation, and their habits were doubtless much what they would have been in regions where man is a rare visitor. The first day we were on Heatley's farm, we saw the bufi^alo, to the number of seventy or eighty, grazing in the open, some hundreds of yards from the papyrus swamp, and this shortly after noon. For a mile from the papyrus swamp the country was an absolutely flat plain, gradually rising into a gentle slope, and it was an impossibility to approach the bufl^alo across this plain save in one way to be mentioned hereafter. Probably when the moon was full the buffalo came out to graze by night. But while we were on our hunt the moon was young, and the buffalo evidently spent most^of the- night in, the papyrus, and came out to graze by day. Sometimes they came out in the early morning, sometimes in the late evening, but quite as often in the bright daylight. We saw herds come out to graze at ten o'clock in the morning, and again at three in the after- noon. They usually remained out several hours, first graz- ing and then lying down. Flocks of the small white cow- heron usually accompanied them, the birds stalking about among them or perching on their backs; and occasionally the whereabouts of the herd in the papyrus swamp could be determined by seeing the flock of herons perched on the papyrus tops. We did not see any of the red-billed tick- birds on the buffalo; indeed, the only ones that we saw in this neighborhood happened to be on domestic cattle — in other places we found them very common on rhinoceros. At night the buffalo sometimes came right into the cultivated fields, and even into the garden close by the Boer farmer's house; and once at night he had shot a bull. The bullet went through the heart but the animal ran to the papyrus swamp, and was found next day dead just within the edge. Usually the main herd, of bulls, cows, and calves, kept to- A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAIMITl 159 gather; but there were outlying bulls found singly or in small parties. Not only the natives but the whites were in- clined to avoid the immediate neighborhood of the papy- rus swamp, for there had been one or two narrow escapes from unprovoked attacks by the buffalo. The farmer told us that a man who was coming to see him had been regu- larly followed by three bulls, who pursued him for quite a distance. There is no doubt that under certain circum- stances buffalo, in addition to showing themselves exceed- ingly dangerous opponents when wounded by hunters, be- come truculent and inclined to take the offensive themselves. There are places in East Africa where as regards at least certain herds this seems to be the case; and in Uganda the buffalo have caused such loss of life, and such damage to the native plantations, that they are now ranked as vermin and not as game, and their killing is encouraged in every possi- ble way. The list of white hunters that have been killed by buffalo is very long, and includes a number of men of note, while accidents to natives are of constant occurrence. The morning after making our camp, we started at dawn for the buffalo ground, Kermit and I, Cuninghame and Heatley, and the Boer farmer with three big, powerful dogs. We walked near the edge of the swamp. The why- dah birds were continually bobbing up and down in front of us as they rose and fell on their dancing-places, while the Kavirondo cranes called mournfully all around. Be- fore we had gone two miles, buffalo were spied, well ahead, feeding close to the papyrus. The line of the papyrus which marked the edge of the swamp was not straight, but broken by projections and indentations; and by following it closely and cutting cautiously across the points, the oppor- tunity for stalking was good. As there was not a tree of any kind anywhere near, we had to rely purely on our shooting to prevent damage from the buffalo. Kermit and I had our double-barrels, with the Winchesters as spare guns, while Cuninghame carried a 577, and Heatley a magazine rifle. 160 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Cautiously threading our way along the edge of the swamp, we got within a hundred and fifty yards of the buffalo before we were perceived. There were four bulls, grazing close by the edge of the swamp, their black bodies glistening in the early sun-rays, their massive horns show- ing white, and the cow-herons perched on their backs. They stared sullenly at us with out-stretched heads from under their great frontlets of horn. The biggest of the four stood a little out from the other three, and at him I fired, the bullet telling with a smack on the tough hide and going through the lungs. We had been afraid they would at once turn into the papyrus, but instead of this they started straight across our front directly for the open country. This was a piece of huge good luck. Kermit put his first barrel into the second bull, and I my second barrel into one of the others, after which it became impossible to say which bullet struck which animal, as the firing became general. They ran a quarter of a mile into the open, and then the big bull I had first shot, and which had no other bullet in him, dropped dead, while the other three, all of which were wounded, halted beside him. We walked toward them, rather expecting a charge; but when we were still over two hundred yards away they started back for the swamp, and we began firing. The distance being long, I used my Winchester. Aiming well before one bull, he dropped to the shot as if pole-axed, falling straight on his back with his legs kicking; but in a moment he was up again and after the others. Later I found that the bullet, a full- metal patch, had struck him in the head but did not pene- trate to the brain, and merely stunned him for the moment. All the time we kept running diagonally to their line of flight. They were all three badly wounded, and when they reached the tall rank grass, high as a man's head, which fringed the papyrus swamp, the two foremost lay down, while the last one, the one I had floored with the Winchester, turned, and with nose out-stretched began to come toward us. He was badly crippled, however, and with a soft- Mr. Roosevelt aad Kermit Roosevelt with the first buffalo l^i 162 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS nosed bullet from my heavy Holland I knocked him down, this time for good. The other two then rose, and though each was again hit they reached the swamp, one of them to our right, the other to the left where the papyrus came out in a point. We decided to go after the latter, and advancing very cautiously toward the edge of the swamp, put in the three big dogs. A moment after, they gave tongue within the papyrus; then we heard the savage grunt of the buffalo and saw its form just within the reeds; and as the rifles cracked, down it went. But it was not dead, for we heard it grunt savagely, and the dogs bayed as loudly as ever. Heatley now mounted his trained shooting-pony and rode toward the place, while we covered him with our rifles, his plan being to run right across our front if the bull charged. The bull was past charging, lying just within the reeds, but he was still able to do damage, for in another minute one of the dogs came out by us and ran straight back to the farm- house, where we found him dead on our return. He had been caught by the buffalo's horns when he went in too close. Heatley, a daring fellow, with great confidence in both his horse and his rifle, pushed forward as we came up, and saw the bull lying on the ground while the two other dogs bit and worried it; and he put a bullet through its head. The remaining bull got off into the swamp, where a week later Heatley found his dead body. Fortunately the head proved to be in less good condition than any of the others, as one horn was broken off about half-way up; so that if any of the four had to escape, it was well that this should have been the one. Our three bulls were fine trophies. The largest, with the largest horns, was the first killed, being the one that fell to my first bullet; yet it was the youngest of the three. The other two were old bulls. The second one killed had smaller horns than the other, but the bosses met in the middle of the forehead for a space of several inches, mak- ing a solid shield. I had just been reading a pamphlet by I A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 163 a German specialist who had divided the African buffalo into fifteen or twenty different species, based upon differ- ences in various pairs of horns. The worth of such fine ^ ^>i- 1 ^ 1 ri^n^ '1 UShIp ' \ n Cuninghame, Kermit, Mr. Roosevelt, Heller, and Heatley at buffalo camp distinctions, when made on insufficient data, can be gath- ered from the fact that on the principles of specific divi- sion adopted in the pamphlet in question, the three bulls we had shot would have represented certainly two and possi- bly three different species. 164 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Heller was soon on the ground with his skinning-tent and skinners, and the Boer farmer went back to fetch the ox wagon on which the skins and meat were brought in to camp. Laymen can hardly realize, and I certainly did not realize, what an immense amount of work is involved in preparing the skins of large animals such as buffalo, rhino, hippo, and above all elephant, in hot climates. On this first five weeks' trip we got over seventy skins, includ- ing twenty-two species ranging in size from a dikdik to a rhino, and all of these Heller prepared and sent to the Smith- sonian. Mearns and Loring were just as busy shooting birds and trapping small mammals. Often while Heller would be off for a few days with Kermit and myself, Mearns and Loring would be camped elsewhere, in a region better suited for the things they were after. While at Juja Farm they went down the Nairobi in a boat to shoot water birds, and saw many more crocodiles and hippo than I did. Loring is a remark- ably successful trapper of small mammals. I do not believe there is a better collector anywhere. Dr. Mearns, in addition to birds and plants, never let pass the opportunity to collect anything else from reptiles and fishes to land shells. More- over, he was the best shot in our party. He killed two great bustards with the rifle, and occasionally shot birds like vultures on the wing with a rifle. I do not believe that three better men than Mearns, Heller, and Loring, for such an expedition as ours, could be found anywhere. It was three days later before we were again successful with buffalo. On this occasion we started about eight in the morning, having come to the conclusion that the herd was more apt to leave the papyrus late than early. Our special object was to get a cow. We intended to take ad- vantage of a small half-dried watercourse, an affluent of the Kamiti, which began a mile beyond where we had killed our bulls, and for three or four miles ran in a course generally parallel to the swamp, and at a distance which varied, but averaged perhaps a quarter of a mile. When we reached the beginning of this watercourse, we left our - Cc; J I I A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 167 horses and walked along it. Like all such watercourses, it wound in curves. The banks were four or five feet high, the bottom was sometimes dry and sometimes contained reedy pools, while at intervals there were clumps of papy- rus. Heatley went ahead, and just as we had about con- cluded that the buffalo would not come out, he came back to tell us that he had caught a glimpse of several, and be- lieved that the main herd was with them. Cuninghame, a veteran hunter and first-class shot, than whom there could be no better man to have with one when after dangerous game, took charge of our further movements. We crept up the watercourse until about opposite the buffalo, which were now lying down. Cuninghame peered cautiously at them, saw there were two or three, and then led us on all-fours toward them. There were patches where the grass was short, and other places where it was three feet high, and after a good deal of cautious crawling we had covered half the distance toward them, when one of them made us out, and several rose from their beds. They were still at least two hundred yards off — a long range for heavy rifles; but any closer approach was impossible, and we fired. Both the leading bulls were hit, and at the shots there rose from the grass not half a dozen buffalo, but seventy or eighty, and started at a gallop parallel to the swamp and across our front. In the rear were a number of cows and calves, and I at once sin- gled out a cow and fired. She plunged forward at the shot and turned toward the swamp, going slowly and dead lame, for my bullet had struck the shoulder and had gone into the cavity of the chest. But at this moment our attention was distracted from the wounded cow by the conduct of the herd, which, headed by the wounded bulls, turned in a quarter-circle toward us, and drew up in a phalanx facing us with out-stretched heads. It was not a nice country in which to be charged by the herd, and for a moment things trembled in the balance. There was a perceptible motion of uneasiness among some of our followers. ''Stand steady! Don't run!" I called out. "And don't shoot!" called out 168 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Cuninghame; for to do either would invite a charge. A few seconds passed, and then the unwounded mass of the herd resumed their flight, and after a Httle hesitation the wounded bulls followed. We now turned our attention to the wounded cow, which was close to the papyrus. She went down to our shots, but the reeds and marsh-grass were above our Third buffalo bull shot in the swamp Fro)n a photograph by Eciiiiiiud I Idler heads when we drew close to the swamp. Once again Heatley went in with his white horse, as close as it was even reasonably safe, with the hope either of seeing the cow, or of getting her to charge him and so give us a fair chance at her. But nothing happened and we loosed the two dogs. They took up the trail and went some little distance into the papyrus, where we heard them give tongue, and immedi- ately afterward there came the angry grunt of the wounded buffalo. It had risen and gone off thirty yards into the papyrus, although mortally wounded — the frothy blood from the lungs was actually coming out of my first bullet- A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 169 hole. Its anger now made it foolish, and It followed the dogs to the edge of the papyrus. Here we caught a glimpse of it. Down it went to our shots, and in a minute we heard the moaning bellow which a wounded buffalo often gives be- fore dying. Immediately afterward we could hear the dogs worrying it, while it bellowed again. It was still living as I came up, and though it evidently could not rise, there was a chance of Its damaging one of the dogs, so I finished It off with a shot from the Winchester. Heller reached it that afternoon, and the skin and meat were brought In by the porters before nightfall. Cunlnghame remained with the body while the rest of us rode off and killed several different animals we wanted. In the afternoon I returned, having a vaguely uncomfort- able feeling that as it grew dusk the buffalo might possi- bly make their appearance again. Sure enough, there they were. A number of them were in the open plain, although close to the swamp, a mile and a half beyond the point where the work of cutting up the cow was just being fin- ished, and the porters were preparing to start with their loads. It seemed very strange that after their experience in the morning any of the herd should be willing to come into the open so soon. But there they were. They were grazing to the number of about a dozen. Looking at them through the glasses I could see that their attention was attracted to us. They gazed at us for quite a time, and then walked slowly In our direction for at least a couple of hundred yards. For a moment I was even doubtful whether they did not Intend to come toward us and charge. But it was only curiosity on their part, and after having gazed their fill, they sauntered back to the swamp and disappeared. There was no chance to get at them, and moreover darkness was rapidly falling. Next morning we broke camp. The porters, strapping grown-up children that they were, felt as much pleasure and excitement over breaking camp after a few days' rest as over reaching camp after a fifteen-mile march. On this 170 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS occasion, after they had made up their loads, they danced in a ring for half an hour, two tin cans being beaten as tomtoms. Then off they strode in a long line with their burdens, following one another in Indian file, each greet- ing me with a smile and a deep "Yambo, Bwana!" as he passed. I had grown attached to them, and of course especially to my tent boys, gun-bearers, and saises, who quite touched me by their evident pleasure in coming to see me and greet me if I happened to be away from them for two or three days. Kermit and I rode off with Heatley to pass the night at his house. This was at the other end of his farm, in a totally different kind of country, a country of wooded hills, with glades and dells and long green grass in the valleys. It did not in the least resemble what one would naturally expect in equatorial Africa. On the contrary it reminded me of the beautiful rolling wooded country of middle Wis- consin. But of course everything was really different. There were monkeys and leopards in the forests, and we saw whydah birds of a new kind, with red on the head and throat, and brilliantly colored woodpeckers, and black-and- gold weaver-birds. Indeed, the wealth of bird life was such that it cannot be described. Here, too, there were many birds with musical voices, to which we listened in the early morning. The best timber was yielded by the tall mahogo-tree, a kind of sandal-wood. This was the tree selected by the wild fig for its deadly embrace. The wild fig begins as a huge parasitic vine, and ends as one of the largest and most stately, and also one of the greenest and most shady, trees in this part of Africa. It grows up the mahogo as a vine and gradually, by branching, and by the spreading of the branches, completely envelops the trunk and also grows along each limb, and sends out great limbs of its own. Every stage can be seen, from that in which the big vine has begun to grow up along the still flourishing mahogo, through that in which the tree looks like a curious composite, the limbs and thick foliage of the fig branching 172 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS out among the limbs and scanty foliage ot the still living mahogo, to the stage in which the mahogo is simply a dead skeleton seen here and there through the trunk or the foliage Heller preparing to send off game heads of the first five weeks' shooting From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt of the fig. Finally nothing remains but the fig, which grows to be a huge tree. Heatley's house was charming, with its vine-shaded veranda, its summer-house and out-buildings, and the great trees clustered round about. He was fond of sport in the right way, that is, he treated it as sport and not busi- A BUFFALO HUNT BY THE KAMITI 173 ness, and did not allow it to interfere with his prime work of being a successful farmer. He had big stock-yards for his cattle and swine, and he was growing all kinds of things of both the temperate and the tropic zones: wheat and apples, coffee and sugar-cane. The bread we ate and the coffee we drank were made from what he had grown on his own farm. There were roses in the garden and great bushes of heliotrope by the veranda, and the drive to his place was bordered by trees from Australia and beds of native flowers. Next day we went into Nairobi, where we spent a most busy week, especially the three naturalists; for the task of getting into shape for shipment and then shipping the many hundreds of specimens — indeed, all told there were thousands of specimens — was of herculean proportions. Governor Jackson — a devoted ornithologist and probably the best living authority on East African birds, taking into account the stand-points of both the closet naturalist and the field naturalist — spent hours with Mearns, helping him to identify and arrange the species. Nairobi is a very attractive town, and most interesting, with its large native quarter and its Indian colony. One of the streets consists of little except Indian shops and bazaars. Outside the business portion, the town is spread over much territory, the houses standing isolated, each by itself, and each usually bowered in trees, with vines shad- ing the verandas, and pretty flower-gardens round about. Not only do I firmly believe in the future of East Africa for settlement as a white man's country, but I feel that it is an ideal playground alike for sportsmen, and for travel- lers who wish to live in health and comfort, and yet to see what is beautiful and unusual. CHAPTER VII TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST TO THE SOTIK On June 5th we started south from Kijabe to trek through the thirst, through the waterless country which lies across the way to the Sotik. The preceding Sunday, at Nairobi, I had visited the excellent French Catholic Mission, had been most cour- teously received by the fathers, had gone over their planta- tions and the school in which they taught the children of the settlers (much to my surprise, among them were three Parsee children, who were evidently put on a totally differ- ent plane from the other Indians, even the Goanese), and had been keenly interested in their account of their work and of the obstacles with which they met. At Kijabe I spent -several exceedingly interesting hours at the American Industrial Mission. Its head, Mr. Hurl- burt, had called on me in Washington at the White House, in the preceding October, and I had then made up my mind that if the chance occurred I must certainly visit his mission. It is an interdenominational mission, and is car- ried on in a spirit which combines to a marked degree broad sanity and common-sense with disinterested fervor. Of course, such work, under the conditions which necessarily obtain in East Africa, can only show gradual progress; but I am sure that missionary work of the Kijabe kind will be an indispensable factor in the slow uplifting of the natives. There is full recognition of the fact that industrial training is a foundation stone in the effort to raise ethical and moral standards. Industrial teaching must go hand in hand with moral teaching — and in both the mere force of example and the influence of firm, kindly sympathy and understanding, count immeasurably. There is further recognition of the X74 TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRSJ^ 175 fact that in such a country the missionary should either already know how to, or else at once learn how to, take the lead himself in all kinds of industrial and mechanical work. Finally the effort is made consistently to teach the native how to live a more comfortable, useful, and physically and morally cleanly life, not under white conditions, but under '""'■^^^'fmmww^ 3f^ ^{'■■''■^mi-: ' ■' -'M, • ^J^" ■» f^l* ^^u^ Mr. Roosevelt after luncheon with the head missionary From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt the conditions which he will actually have to face when he goes back to his people, to live among them, and, if things go well, to be in his turn a conscious or unconscious mission- ary for good. At lunch, in addition to the missionaries and their wives and children, there were half a dozen of the neighboring settlers, with their families. It is always a good thing to see the missionary and the settler working shoulder to shoulder. Many parts of East Africa can, and I believe will, be made into a white man's country; and the process will be helped, 17() AFRICAN GAME TRAILS The satan FroDt a photograph not hindered, by treating the black man well. At Kijabe, nearly under the equator, the beautiful scenery was almost northern in type; at night we needed blazing camp-fires and the days were as cool as September on Long Island or by the southern shores of the Great Lakes. It is a very healthy region; the chil- dren of the missionaries and settlers, of all ages, were bright and strong; those of Mr. and Mrs. Hurlburt had not been out of the country for eight years, and showed no ill effects whatever; on the contrary, I quite believed Mrs. Hurlburt when she said that she regarded the fertile wooded hills of Kijabe, with their forests and clear brooks, as forming a true health resort. The northern look of Ulyate and eland calf brought in by Masai From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt tUeplaCe WaS enhaUCed TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 177 on tlic marcli by Edinutid Helcer by the fact that the forests contained junipers; but they also contained monkeys, a small green monkey, and the big guerza, with its long silky hair and bold black-and-white coloring. Kermit, Heller, and Loring shot several. There were rhinoceros and buffalo in the neighborhood. A few days previously some buffalo had charged, improvoked, a couple of the native boys of the mission, who had escaped only by their agility in tree- climbing. On one of his trips to an outlying mission station, Mr. Hurlburt had himself narrowly escaped a seri- ous accident. Quite wantonly, a cow rhino, with a calf, charged the safari almost before they knew of its pres- ence. It attacked Hurlburt's mule, which fortunately he was not riding, and tossed and killed it; it passed through the line, and then turned and again charged it, this time attacking one of the porters. The porter dodged behind a tree, and the rhino hit the tree, knocked off a huge flake of bark and wood, and galloped away. An askari on duty From a photograph by J. A la'en Lorinf^ 12 178 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS The trek across ''the thirst,'* as any waterless country is apt to be called by an Africander, is about sixty miles, by the road. On our horses we could have ridden it in a night; but on a serious trip of any kind loads must be carried, and laden porters cannot go fast, and must rest at intervals. We had rather more than our porters could carry, and needed additional transportation for the water for the safari; and we had hired four ox wagons. They were under the lead of a fine young colonial Englishman named Ulyate, whose great-grandfather had come to South Africa in 1820, as part of the most important English emi- gration that ever went thither. His father and sisters had lunched with us at the missionaries' the day before; his wife's baby was too young for her to come. It was the best kind of pioneer family; all the members, with some of their fel- low-colonials, had spent much of the preceding three years in adventurous exploration of the country in their ox wagons, the wives and daughters as valiant as the men; one of the two daughters I met had driven one of the ox wagons on the hardest and most dangerous trip they made, while her younger sister led the oxen. It was on this trip that they had pioneered the way across the waterless route I was to take. For those who, like ourselves, followed the path they had thus blazed, there was no danger to the men, and merely discomfort to the oxen; but the first trip was a real feat, for no one could tell what lay ahead, or what exact route would be practicable. The family had now settled on a big farm, but also carried on the business of ''trans- port riding," as freighting with wagons is called in Africa; and they did it admirably. With Ulyate were three other white wagon-drivers, all colonials ; two of them English, the third Dutch, or Boer. There was also a Cape boy, a Kaffir wagon-driver; utterly difi^erent from any of the East African natives, and dressed in ordinary clothes. In addition there were various natives — primitive savages in dress and habit, but coming from the cattle-owning tribes. Each ox-team was guided TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 179 by one of these savages, who led the first yoke by a leathern thong, while the wagon-driver, with his long whip, stalked to and fro beside the line of oxen, or rode in the wagon. The huge wagons, with their white tops or "sails," were larger than those our own settlers and freighters used. Except one small one, to which there were but eight oxen, each was drawn by a span of seven or eight yoke; they were all native humped cattle. We had one hundred and ninety-six porters, in addition to the askaris, tent boys, gun-bearers, and saises. The management of such a safari is a work of difficulty; but no better man for the purpose than Cuninghame could be found anywhere, and he had chosen his headmen well. In the thirst, the march goes on by day and night. The longest halt is made in the day, for men and animals both travel better at night than under the blazing noon. We were fortunate in that it was just after the full of the moon, so that our night treks were made in good light. Of course, on such a march the porters must be spared as much as possible; camp is not pitched, and each white man uses for the trip only what he wears, or carries on his horse — and the horse also must be loaded as lightly as possible. I took nothing but my army overcoat, rifle and cartridges, and three canteens of water. Kermit did the same. The wagons broke camp about ten, to trek to the water, a mile and a half off, where the oxen would be outspanned to take the last drink for three days; stock will not drink early in the morning nearly as freely as if the march is be- gun later. We, riding our horses, followed by the long hne of burdened porters, left at half-past twelve, and in a couple of hours overtook the wagons. The porters were in high spirits. In the morning, before the start, they twice held regular dances, the chief musician being one of their own number who carried an extraordinary kind of native harp; and after their loads were allotted they marched out of camp singing and blowing their horns and whistles. Three askaris brought up the rear to look after 180 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS The ox wagons trekking through the scrub From a photograph by R. J. Cuninghame laggards, and see that no weak or sick man fell out with- out our knowing or being able to give him help. The trail led first through open brush, or low, dry forest, and then out on the. vast plains, where the withered grass was dotted here and there with low, scantily leaved thorn- trees, from three to eight feet high. Hour after hour we drew slowly ahead under the shimmering sunlight. The horsemen walked first, with the gun-bearers, saises, and usually a few very energetic and powerful porters; then came the safari in single file; and then the lumber- ing white-topped wagons, the patient oxen walking easily, each team led by a half-naked savage with frizzed hair and a spear or throwing-stick in his hand, '"^^^"h-- while at intervals the long The porter-harper and his native harp whipS of fhc drivCrS Crackcd From a photograph by J. AldenLoring llkc riflcS. ThC duSt TOSC iu TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 181 clouds from the dry earth, and soon covered all of us; in the distance herds of zebra and hartebeest gazed at us as we passed, and we saw the old spoor of rhino, beasts we hoped to avoid, as they often charge such a caravan. Slowly the shadows lengthened; the light waned, the glare of the white, dusty plain was softened, and the bold outlines of the distant mountains grew dim. Just before nightfall we halted on the further side of a dry watercourse. The safari came up singing and whistling, and the men put down their loads, lit fires, and with chatter and laugh- ter prepared their food. The crossing was not good, the sides of the watercourse being steep; and each wagon was brought through by a double span, the whips cracking lustily as an accompaniment to the shouts of the drivers, as the thirty oxen threw their weight into the yokes by which they were attached to the long trek tow. The horses were fed. We had tea, with bread and cold meat — and a most delicious meal it was — and then lay dozing or talking be- side the bush-fires. At half-past eight, the moon having risen, we were off again. The safari was still in high spirits, and started with the usual chanting and drumming. We pushed steadily onward across the plain, the dust rising in clouds under the spectral moonlight. Sometimes we rode, sometimes we walked to ease our horses. The Southern Cross was directly ahead, not far above the hori- zon. Higher and higher rose the moon, and brighter grew the flood of her light. At intervals the barking call of zebras was heard on either hand. It was after midnight when we again halted. The porters were tired, and did not sing as they came up; the air was cool, almost nipping, and they at once huddled down in their blankets, some of them building fires. We, the white men, after seeing our horses staked out, each lay down in his overcoat or jacket and slicker, with his head on his saddle, and his rifle beside him, and had a little over two hours' sleep. At three we were off again, the shivering porters making no sound as they started; but once under way the more irrepressible 182 APRICAN GAME TRAILS spirits speedily began a kind of intermittent chant, and most of the rest by degrees joined in the occasional grunt or hum that served as chorus. For four hours we travelled steadily, first through the moonlight, and then through the reddening dawn. Jackals shrieked, and the plains plover wailed and scolded as they circled round us. When the sun was well up, we halted; the desolate flats stretched far and wide on every side and rose into lofty hills ahead of us. The porters received their water and food, and lay down to sleep, some directly in the open, others rigging little sun shelters under the scattering thorn-bushes. The horses were fed, were given half a pail of water apiece, and were turned loose to graze with the oxen; this was the last time the oxen would feed freely, unless there was rain; and this was to be our longest halt. We had an excellent breakfast, like our supper the night before, and then slept as well as we could. Noon came, and soon afterward we again started. The country grew hilly, and brushy. It was too dry for much game, but we saw a small herd of giraffe, which are in- dependent of water. Now riding our horses, now leading them, we travelled until nearly sunset, when we halted at the foot of a steep divide, beyond which our course lay across slopes that gradually fell to the stream for which we were heading. Here the porters had all the food and water they wished, and so did the horses; and, each with a double span of oxen, the wagons were driven up the slope, the weary cattle straining hard in the yokes. Black clouds had risen and thickened in the west, boding rain. Three-fourths of our journey was over; and it was safe to start the safari and then leave it to come on by itself, while the ox wagons followed later. At nine, be- fore the moon struggled above the hill-crests to our left, we were off. Soon we passed the wagons, drawn up abreast, a lantern high on a pole, while the tired oxen lay in their yokes, attached to the trek tow. An hour afterward we left the safari behind, and rode ahead, with only our saises TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 183 and gun-bearers. Gusts of rain blew in our faces, and grad- ually settled into a steady, gentle downpour. Our horses began to slip in the greasy soil; we knew the rain would refresh the cattle, but would make the going harder. At one we halted, in the rain, for a couple of hours' rest. Just before this we heard two lions roaring, or rather grunt- ing, not far in front of us; they were after prey. Lions A hall From a photograph by R. J. Cunbighaine are bold on rainy nights, and we did not wish to lose any of our horses; so a watch was organized, and we kept ready for immediate action, but the lions did not come. The native boys buih fires, and lay close to them, relieving one another, and us, as sentinels. Kermit and I had our army overcoats, which are warm and practically water-proof; the others had coats almost as good. We lay down in the rain, on the drenched grass, with our saddle-cloths over our feet, and our heads on our saddles, and slept comfort- ably for two hours. 184 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS At three we mounted and were off again, the rain still falhng. There were steep ravines to cross, slippery from the wet; but we made good time, and soon after six off- saddled on the farther side of a steep drift or ford in the little Suavi River. It is a rapid stream flowing between high, well-wooded banks; it was an attractive camp site, and, as we afterward found, the nights were so cool as to make great camp-fires welcome. At half-past ten the safari appeared, in excellent spirits, the flag waving, to an accom- paniment of chanting and horn-blowing; and, to their loudly expressed sat- isfaction, the porters were told that they should have an extra day's ra- tions, as well as a day's rest. Camp was soon pitched; and all, of every rank, slept soundly that night, though the lions moaned near by. The wagons did not get in until ten the following morning. By that time the oxen had been nearly three days without water, so, by dawn, they were unyoked and driven down to drink before the drift was attempted, the wagons being left a mile or two back. The approaches to the drift were steep and difficult, and, with two spans to each, the wagons swayed and plunged, over the twisted bowlder-choked trails down into the river- bed, crossed it, and, with lurching and straining, men shout- ing and whips cracking, drew slowly up the opposite bank. After a day's rest, we pushed on, in two days' easy travel- ling, to the Guaso Nyero of the south. Our camps were Every one rested under the fly-tent at noon in the trek through the thirst From a photograph by Kcrinit Roosevelt TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 185 pleasant, by running streams of swift water; one was really beautiful, in a grassy bend of a rapid little river, by huge African yew-trees, with wooded cliffs in front. It was cool, rainy weather, with overcast skies and misty morn- ings, so that it seemed strangely unlike the tropics. The country was alive with herds of Masai cattle, sheep, and Watering the oxen. Taking their last drink for three clays From a photograph by Kerniit Roosevelt donkeys. The Masai, herdsmen by profession and war- riors by preference, with their great spears and ox-hide shields, were stalwart savages, and showed the mixture of types common to this part of Africa, which is the edge of an ethnic whirlpo6l. Some of them were of seemingly pure negro type; others except in their black sk^in had little negro about them, their features being as clear-cut as those of ebony Nilotic Arabs. They were dignified, 186 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS but friendly and civil, shaking hands as soon as they came up to us. On the Guaso Nyero was a settler from South Africa, with his family; and we met another settler travelling with a big flock of sheep which he had bought for trading pur- poses. The latter, while journeying over our route with cattle, a month before, had been attacked by lions one night. They seized his cook as he lay by the fire, but fortunately grabbed his red blanket, which they carried off, and the terrified man escaped; and they killed a cow and a calf. Ulyate's brother-in-law, Smith, had been rendered a hope- less cripple for life, six months previously, by a lioness he had wounded. Another settler while at one of our camping- places lost two of his horses, which were killed although within a boma. One night lions came within threatening neighborhood of our ox wagons; and we often heard them moaning in the early part of the night, roaring when full fed toward morning; but we were not molested. The safari was in high feather, for the days were cool, the work easy, and we shot enough game to give them meat. When we broke camp after breakfast, the porters would all stand ranged by their loads; then Tarlton would whistle, and a chorus of whistles, horns, and tomtoms would answer, as each porter lifted and adjusted his burden, fell into his place, and then joined in some shrill or guttural chorus as the long line swung off at its marching pace. After nightfall the camp-fires blazed in the cool air, and as we stood or sat around them each man had tales to tell: Cuninghame and Tarlton of elephant hunting in the Congo, and of perilous adventures hunting lion and buffalo; Mearns of long hikes and fierce fighting in the steaming Philippine forests; Loring and Heller of hunting and col- lecting in Alaska, in the Rockies, and among the deserts of the Mexican border; and always our talk came back to strange experiences with birds and beasts, both great and small, and to the ways of the great game. The three naturalists revelled in the teeming bird life, with its wealth Colobus moakey 188 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS of beauty and color — nor was the beauty only of color and shape, for at dawn the bird songs made real music. The naturalists trapped many small mammals: big-eared mice looking like our white-footed mice, mice with spiny fur, mice that lived in trees, rats striped like our chip- munks, rats that jumped like jerboas, big cane-rats, dor- mice, and tiny shrews. Meercats, things akin to a small mongoose, lived out in the open plains, burrowing in com- A wounded wildebeest From a photograph by Keriitit Roosevelt panics like prairie dogs, very spry and active, and looking like picket pins when they stood up on end to survey us. I killed a nine-foot python which had swallowed a rab- bit. Game was not plentiful, but we killed enough for the table. I shot a wildebeest bull one day, having edged up to it on foot, after missing it standing; I broke it down with a bullet through the hips as it galloped across my front at three hundred yards. Kermit killed our first topi, a bull; a beautiful animal, the size of a hartebeest, its glossy coat with a satin sheen, varying from brown to silver and purple. By the Guaso Nyero we halted for several days; and we arranged to leave Mearns and Loring in a permanent camp, so that they might seriously study and collect the TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 189 birds and small mammals while the rest of us pushed wherever we wished after the big game. The tents were pitched, and the ox wagons drawn up on the southern side of the muddy river, by the edge of a wide plain, on which we could see the game grazing as we walked around camp. The alluvial flats bordering the river, and some of the higher plains, were covered with an open forest growth, the most common tree looking exactly like a giant sage-brush, thirty feet high; and there were tall aloes and cactus and flat-topped mi- mosa. We found a wee hedge- hog, with much white about it. He would cuddle up in my hand snuffing busily with his funny little nose. We did not have the heart to turn the tame, friendly little fellow over to the natural- ists, and so we let him go. Birds abounded. One kind of cuckoo called like a whippoorwill in the early morning and late evening, and after nightfall. Among our friendly visitors were the pretty, rather strikingly colored little chats — Livingstone's wheatear — which showed real curiosity in coming into camp. They were nesting in burrows on the open plains round about. Mearns got a white egg and a nest at the end of a little burrow two feet long; wounded, the birds ran into holes or burrows. They sang attractively on the wing, often at night. The plover-like coursers, very pretty birds, continually circled round us with querulous clamor. Gorgeously colored, diminutive sunbirds, of many different kinds, were abundant ; they had an especial fondness for the gaudy flowers of the tall mint which grew close to the river. We got a small cobra, less than eighteen inches long ; it had swallowed another snake almost as big as itself; un- A Colobus monkey From a photograph by J. A Ulen Loring 190 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS fortunately the head of the swallowed snake was digested, but the body looked Hke that of a young puff adder. The day after reaching this camp I rode off for a hunt, accompanied by my two gun-bearers and with a dozen porters following, to handle whatever I killed. One of my original gun-bearers, Mahomet, though a good man in the field, had proved in other respects so unsatisfactory that he had been replaced by another, a Wakamba heathen named Gouvimali — I could never remember his name un- til, as a mnemonic aid, Kermit suggested that I think of Gouverneur Morris, the old Federalist statesman, whose life I had once studied. He was a capital man for the work. Half a mile from camp I saw a buck tommy with a good head, and as we needed his delicious venison for our own table, I dismounted and after a little care killed him as he faced me at two hundred and ten yards. Sending him back by one of the porters, I rode on toward two topi we saw far in front. But there were zebra, hartebeest, and wildebeest in between, all of which ran; and the topi proved wary. I was still walking after them when we made out two eland bulls ahead and to our left. The ground was too open to admit of the possibility of a stalk; but leaving my horse and the porters to follow slowly, the gun-bearers and I walked quartering toward them. They hesitated about going, and when I had come as close as I dared, I motioned to the two gun-bearers to continue walking, and dropped on one knee. I had the little Springfield, and was anxious to test the new sharp-pointed military bullet on some large animal. The biggest bull was half facing me, just two hundred and eighty yards off; I fired a little bit high and a trifle to the left; but the tiny ball broke his back and the splendid beast, heavy as a prize steer, came plunging and struggling to the ground. The other bull started to run off, but after I had walked a hundred yards forward, he actually trotted back toward his companion; then halted, turned, and galloped across my front at a distance of a hundred and eighty yards; and him too I TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 19J A wounded tommy From a photograph by Kerinit Roosevelt brought down with a single shot. The httle full-jacketed, sharp-pointed bullet made a terrific rend- ing compared with the heavier, ordina- ry-shaped bullet of the same composi- tion. I was much pleased with my two prizes, for the National Museum particularly desired a good group of eland. They were splendid animals, like beautiful heavy cattle; and I could not sufficiently admire their sleek, handsome, striped coats, their shapely heads, fine horns, and massive bodies. The big bull, an old one, looked blue at a distance; he was very heavy and his dewlap hung down just as with cattle. His companion, although much less heavy, was a full-grown bull in his prime, with longer horns; for the big one's horns had begun to wear down at the tips. In their stomachs were grass blades and, rather to my surprise, aloe leaves. We had two canvas cloths with us, which Heller had instructed me to put over anything I shot, in order to protect it from the sun; so, covering both bulls, I left a porter with them, and sent in another to notify Heller — who came out with an ox wag- Head of the old bull eland , . . , From a photograph by Edmund Hellef O 192 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS skins and meat. I had killed these two eland bulls, as well as the buck gazelle (bringing down each with a single bullet) within three-quarters of an hour after leaving camp. I wanted a topi, and continued the hunt. The coun- try swarmed with the herds and flocks of the Masai, who own a wealth of live stock. Each herd of cattle and don- keys or flock of sheep was guarded by its herdsmen; bands of stalwart, picturesque warriors, with their huge spears and ox-hide shields, occasionally strolled by us; and we passed many bomas, the kraals where the stock is gathered at night, with the mud huts of the owners ringing them. Yet there was much game in the country also, chiefly zebra and hartebeest; the latter, according to their custom, contin- ually jumping up on ant-hills to get a clearer view of me, and sometimes standing on them motionless for a consider- able time, as sentries to scan the country around. At last we spied a herd of topi, distinguishable from the hartebeest at a very long distance by their dark coloring, the purples and browns giving the coat a heavy shading which when far off, in certain lights, looks almost black. Topi, hartebeest, and wildebeest belong to the same group, and are specialized, and their peculiar physical and men- tal traits developed, in the order named. The wildebeest is the least normal and most grotesque and odd-looking of the three, and his idiosyncrasies of temper are also the most marked. The hartebeest comes next, with his very high withers, long face, and queerly shaped horns; while the topi, although with a general hartebeest look, has the features of shape and horn less pronounced, and bears a greater resemblance to his more ordinary kinsfolk. In the same way, though it will now and then buck and plunge when it begins to run after being startled, its demeanor is less pronounced in this respect. The topi's power of leaping is great; I have seen one when frightened bound clear over a companion, and immediately afterward over a high ant-hill. The herd of topi we saw was more shy than the neigh- boring zebra and hartebeest. There was no cover and I TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 198 spent an hour trying to walk up to them by manoeuvring in one way and another. They did not run clear away, but kept standing and letting me approach to distances varying from four hundred and fifty to six hundred yards; tempting me to shoot, while nevertheless I could not esti- mate the range accurately, and was not certain whether I was over or under shooting. So I fired more times than I care to men- tion before I finally got my topi — at just five hundred and twenty yards. It was a handsome cow, weighing two hundred and sixty pounds; for topi are somewhat smaller than kongoni. The beauty of its coat, in texture and col- oring, struck me afresh as I looked at the sleek creat- ure stretched out on the grass. Like the eland, it was free from ticks; for the hideous pests do not frequent this part of the country in any great numbers. I reached camp early in the afternoon, and sat down at the mouth of my tent to enjoy myself. It was on such occasions that the Pigskin Library proved itself indeed a blessing. In addition to the original books we had picked up one or two old favorites on the way: Alice's Adventures, for instance, and Fitzgerald — I say Fitzgerald, because reading other versions of Omar Khayyam always leaves Giant Masai warriors and an average-sized porter From n photograph hy J. A Uien Loring 13 194 AFRICAN GA^IE TRAILS Topi (shot by Kermit) Frojn a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt me with the feeUng that Fitzgerald is the major partner in the book we really like. Then there was a book I had not read, Dumas's "Louves de Machecoul." This was presented to me at Port Said by M. Jusserand, the brother of an old and valued friend, the French ambassador at Washington — the vice-president of the ''Tennis Cabinet.'* We had been speaking of Balzac, and I mentioned regret- fully that I did not at heart care for his longer novels ex- cepting the "Chou- ans"; and, as John Hay once told me, in the eye of all true Balzacians to like the "Chouans" merely aggravates the offence of not liking the novels which they deem really great. M. Jusserand thereupon asked me if I knew Dumas's Vendean novel; being a fairly good Dumas man, I was rather ashamed to admit that I did not; whereupon he sent it to me, and I enjoyed it to the full. The next day was Kermit's red-letter day. We were each out until after dark; I merely got some of the ordinary game, taking the skins for the naturalists, the flesh for our following; he killed two cheetahs, and a fine maned lion, finer than any previously killed. There were three chee- tahs together. Kermit, who was with Tarlton, galloped the big male, and, although it had a mile's start, ran into it in three miles, and shot it as it lay under a bush. He afterward shot another, a female, who was lying on a stone koppie. Neither made any attempt to charge; the male had been eating a tommy. The lion was with a lioness, which wheeled to one side as the horsemen gal- loped after her maned mate. He turned to bay after a run of less than a mile, and started to charge from a distance of two hundred yards; but Kermit's first bullets mortally TREKKING THROUGH THE THHIST 195 wounded him and crippled him so that he could not come at any pace and was easily stopped before covering half the distance. Although nearly a foot longer than the biggest of the lions I had already killed, he was so gaunt — whereas they were very fat — that he weighed but little more, only four hundred and twelve pounds. The following day I was out by myself, after impalla and Roberts' gazelle; and the day after I went out with The big lion shot by Kermit From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt Tarlton to try for lion. We were away from camp for over fifteen hours. Each was followed by his sais and gun-bearers, and we took a dozen porters also. The day may be worth describing, as a sample of the days when we did not start before dawn for a morning's hunt. We left camp at seven, steering for a high, rocky hill, four miles off. We passed zebra and hartebeest, and on the hill came upon Chanler's reedbuck; but we wanted none of these. Continually, Tarlton stopped to examine some dis- tant object with his glasses, and from the hill we scanned 196 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS the country far and wide; but we saw nothing we desired and continued on our course. The day was windy and cool, and the sky often overcast. Slowly we walked across Tarlton, and cheetah shot by Kermit Roosevelt From a photografh by Kermit Roosevelt the stretches of brown grassland, sometimes treeless, some- times scantily covered with an open growth of thorn-trees, each branch armed with long spikes, needle-sharp; and TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 197 among the thorns here and there stood the huge cactus-Hke euphorbias, shaped Hke candelabra, groups of tall aloes, and gnarled wild olives of great age, with hoary trunks and twisted branches. Now and then there would be a dry watercourse, with flat-topped acacias bordering it, and perhaps some one pool of thick greenish water. There was game always in view, and about noon we sighted three rhinos, a bull, a cow, and a big calf, nearly a mile ahead of us. We were travelling down wind, and they scented us, but did not charge, making off in a semicircle and halting when abreast of us. We examined them carefully through the glasses. The cow was bigger than the bull, and had fair horns, but nothing extraordinary; and as we were twelve miles from camp, so that Heller would have had to come out for the night if we shot her, we decided to leave her alone. Then our attention was attracted by seeing the game all gazing in one direction, and we made out a hyena; I got a shot at it, at three hundred yards, but missed. Soon afterward we saw another rhino, but on approaching it proved to be about two-thirds grown, with a stubby horn. We did not wish to shoot it, and therefore desired to avoid a charge; and so we passed three or four hundred yards to leeward, trusting to its bad eyesight. Just opposite it, when it was on our right, we saw another hyena on our left, about as far off as the rhino. I decided to take a shot, and run the chance of disturbing the rhino. So I knelt down and aimed with the little Springfield, keeping the Holland by me to be ready for events. I never left camp, on foot or on horseback, for any distance, no matter how short, with- out carrying one of the repeating rifles; and when on a hunt my two gun-bearers carried, one the other magazine rifle, and one the double-barrelled Holland. Tarlton, whose eye for distance was good, told me the hyena was over three hundred yards off; it was walking slowly to the left. I put up the three-hundred-yard sight, and drew a rather coarse bead; and down went the hyena with its throat cut; the little sharp-pointed, full-jacketed 198 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS bullet makes a slashing wound. The distance was just three hundred and fifty long paces. As soon as I had pulled trigger I wheeled to watch the rhino. It started round at the shot and gazed toward us with Its ears cocked forward, but made no movement to advance. While a couple of porters were dressing the hyena, I could not help laughing at finding that we were the centre of a thoroughly African circle of deeply Interested spectators. A wart-hog shot by Kermit Roosevelt From a photograph by Edmund Heller We were in the middle of a vast plain, covered with sun- scorched grass and here and there a stunted thorn; in the background were isolated barren hills, and the mirage wa- vered in the distance. Vultures wheeled overhead. The rhino, less than half a mile away, stared steadily at us. Wildebeest — their heavy forequarters and the carriage of their heads making them look like bison — and hartebeest were somewhat nearer, in a ring all round us, intent upon our proceedings. Four topi became so much interested that they approached within two hundred and fifty yards and stood motionless. A buck tommy came even closer, and a zebra trotted by at about the same distance, uttering its TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 199 queer bark or neigh. It continued its course past the rhino, and started a new train of ideas in the latter's muddled rep- tihan brain; round it wheeled, gazed after the zebra, and then evidently concluded that everything was normal, for it lay down to sleep. On we went, past a wildebeest herd lying down; at a distance they looked exactly like bison as they used to lie out on the prairie in the old days. We halted for an hour and a half to rest the men and horses, and took our lunch under a thick-trunked olive-tree that must have been a couple of centuries old. Again we went on, ever scanning through the glasses every distant object which we thought might possibly be a hon, and ever being disappointed. A serval cat jumped up ahead of us in the tall grass, but I missed it. Then, trotting on foot, I got ahead of two wart- hog boars, and killed the biggest; making a bad initial miss and then emptying my magazine at it as it ran. We sent it in to camp, and went on, following a donga, or small watercourse, fringed with big acacias. The after- noon was wearing away, and it was time for lions to be abroad. The sun was near the horizon when Tarlton thought he saw something tawny in the watercourse ahead of us, be- hind a grassy ant-hill, toward which we walked after dis- mounting. Some buck were grazing peacefully beyond it, and for a moment we supposed that this was what he had seen. But as we stood, one of the porters behind called out *'Simba"; and we caught a glimpse of a big lioness galloping down beside the trees, just beyond the donga; she was out of sight in an instant. Mounting our horses, we crossed the donga; she was not to be seen, and we loped at a smart pace parallel with the line of trees, hoping to see her in the open. But, as it turned out, as soon as she saw us pass, she crouched in the bed of the donga; we had gone by her a quarter of a mile when a shout from one of our followers announced that he had seen her, and back we galloped, threw ourselves from our horses, and walked 200 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS toward where the man was pointing. Tarhon took his big double-barrel and advised me to take mine, as the sun had just set and it was Hkely to be close work; but I shook my head, for the Winchester .405 is, at least for me per- sonally, the "medicine gun" for lions. In another mo- ment up she jumped, and galloped slowly down the other side of the donga, switching her tail and growling; I scram- bled across the donga, and just before she went round a clump of trees, eighty yards off, I fired. The bullet hit her fair, and going forward injuBed her spine. Over she rolled, growling savagely, and dragged herself into the water- course; and running forward I finished her with two \ ■■"''^•^■■fck bullets be- ^^^H^H^^^Hi? hind the shou Ider. She was a big, fat lion- Extreme form of Roberts' gazelle „„_ VPrv olH From a photograph by Edmund Helter . . With two cubs inside her; her lower canines were much worn and injured. She was very heavy, and probably weighed con- siderably over three hundred pounds. The light was growing dim, and camp was eight or ten miles away. The porters — they are always much ex- cited over the death of a lion — ^wished to carry the body whole to camp, and I let them try. While they were lashing it to a pole another lion began to moan hungrily half a mile away. Then we started; there was no moon, but the night was clear and we could guide ourselves by the stars. The porters staggered under their heavy load, and we made slow progress; most of the time Tarlton and I walked, with our double-barrels in our hands, for it was a dan- gerous neighborhood. Again and again we heard lions, and TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 201 Masai with stretchinu-stone From a phofogrnph by J. A Men Loriiig twice one accompanied us for some distance, grunting occasionally, while we kept the men closed. Once the porters were thrown into a panic by a succession of steam-engine-like snorts on our left, which announced the im- mediate proximity of a rhino. They halted in a huddle while Tarlton and I ran forward and crouched to try to catch the great beast's loom against the sky-line; but it moved off. Four miles from camp was a Masai kraal, and we went toward this when we caught the gleam of the fires; for the porters were getting exhausted. The kraal was in shape a big oval, with a thick wall of thorn-bushes, eight feet high, the low huts standing just within this wall, while the cattle and sheep were crowded into small bomas in the centre. The fires gleamed here and there within, and as we approached we heard the talking and laugh- ing of men and women, and the lowing and bleating of the pent-up herds and flocks. We hailed loudly, explaining our needs. At first they were very suspicious. They told us we could not bring the lion within, because it would frighten the cattle, but after some parley consented to our building a fire outside, and skinning the ani- mal. They passed two brands over the thorn fence, and our men speedily kindled a blaze, A Masai woman and toto ^ i !• i • j • Fro,naphotosraphbyKer,nit Roosevelt and drCW the llOUCSS beSldC it. '9'> AFRICAN GAME TRAILS By this time the Masai were reassured, and a score of their warriors, followed soon by half a dozen women, came out through a small opening in the fence, and crowded close around the fire, with boisterous, noisy good- humor. They showed a tendency to chaff our porters. One, the humorist of the crowd, excited much merriment by describing, with pantomimic accompaniment of gest- ures, how when the white man shot a lion it might bite a Swahili, who thereupon would call for his mother. But they were entirely friendly, and offered me calabashes of milk. The men were tall, finely shaped savages, their hair plastered with red mud, and drawn out into longish ringlets; they were naked except for a blanket worn, not round the loins, but over the shoulders; their ears were slit, and from them hung bone and wooden ornaments; they wore metal bracelets and anklets, and chains which passed around their necks, or else over one side of the neck and under the opposite arm. The women had pleasant faces, and were laden with metal ornaments — chiefly wire ank- lets, bracelets, and necklaces — of many pounds weight. The features of the men were bold and clear-cut, and their bearing warlike and self-reliant; as the flame of the fire glanced over them, and brought their faces and bronze figures into lurid relief against the darkness, the likeness was striking, not to the West Coast negroes, but to the en- gravings on the tombs, temples, and palaces of ancient Egypt; they might have been soldiers in the armies of Thothmes or Rameses. They stood resting on their long staffs, and looked at me as I leaned on my rifle; and they laughed and jested with their women, who felt the lion's teeth and claws and laughed back at the men; our gun- bearers worked at the skinning, and answered the jests of their warlike friends with the freedom of men who them- selves followed a dangerous trade; the two horses stood quiet just outside the circle; and over all the firelight played and leaped. It was after ten when we reached camp, and I enjoyed TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 203 a hot bath and a shave before sitting down to a supper of eland venison and broiled spurfowl; and surely no supper ever tasted more delicious. Next day we broke camp. My bag for the five days illustrates ordinary African shooting in this part of the con- tinent. Of course I could have killed many other things ; but I shot nothing that was not absolutely needed, both for scientific purposes and for food; the skin of every animal I shot was preserved for the National Museum. The bag in- cluded fourteen animals, often different species: one lioness, one hyena, one wart-hog boar, two zebra, two eland, one wildebeest, two topi, two impalla, one Roberts' gazelle, one Thomson's gazelle. Except the lioness and one impalla (both of which I shot running), all were shot at rather long ranges; seven were shot standing, two walking, five running. The average distance at which they were shot was a little over two hundred and twenty yards. I used sixty-five cartridges, an amount which will seem excessive chiefly to those who are not accustomed actually to count the cartridges they expend, to measure the distances at which they fire, and to estimate for themselves the range, on animals in the field when they are standing or running a good way of^. Only one wounded animal got away; and eight of the animals I shot had to be finished with one bullet — two in the case of the lioness — as they lay on the ground. Many of the cartridges expended really represented range- finding. CHAPTER VIII HUNTING IN THE SOTIK Our next camp was in the middle of the vast plains, by some limestone springs, at one end of a line of dark acacias. There were rocky koppies two or three miles off on either hand. From the tents, and white-topped wagons, we could see the game grazing on the open flats, or among the scat- tered wizened thorns. The skies were overcast, and the nights cool; in the evenings the camp-fires blazed in front of the tents, and after supper we gathered round them, talking, or sitting silently, or listening to Kermit strum- ming on his mandolin. The day after reaching this camp we rode out, hoping to get either rhino or giraffe; we needed additional speci- mens of both for the naturalists, who especially wanted cow giraffes. It was cloudy and cool, and the common game was shy; though we needed meat, I could not get within fair range of the wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, or big gazelle; however I killed a couple of tommies, one by a good shot, the other running, after I had missed him in rather scandalous fashion while he was standing. An hour or two after leaving the tents we made out on the sky-line a couple of miles to our left some objects which scrutiny showed to be giraffe. After coming within a mile the others halted and I rode ahead on the tranquil sorrel, heading for a point toward which the giraffe were walking; stalking was an impossibility, and I was pre- pared either to manoeuvre for a shot on foot, or to ride them, as circumstances might determine, I carried the little Springfield, being desirous of testing the small, solid, sharp-pointed army bullet on the big beasts. As I rode, a wildebeest bull played around me within two hundred 204 HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 205 yards, prancing, flourishing his tail, tossing his head and uttering his grunting bellow; it almost seemed as if he knew I would not shoot at him, or as if for the moment he had been infected with the absurd tameness which the giraffe showed. There were seven giraffes, a medium-sized bull, four cows, and two young ones; and,^ funnily enough, the young ones were by far the shyest and most suspicious. I did not want to kill a bull unless it was exceptionally large; whereas I did want two cows and a young one, for the museum. When quarter of a mile away I dismounted, threw the reins over Tranquillity's head — whereat the good placid old fellow at once began grazing — and walked di- agonally toward the biggest cow, which was ahead of the others. The tall, handsome, ungainly creatures were noth- ing like as shy as the smaller game had shown themselves that morning, and of course they offered such big targets that three hundred yards was a fair range for them. At two hundred and sixty yards I fired at the big cow as she stood almost facing me, twisting and curling her tail. The bullet struck fair and she was off at a hurried, clumsy gallop. I gave her another bullet, but it was not neces- sary, and down she went. The second cow, a fine young heifer, was now cantering across my front, and with two more shots I got her; the sharp-pointed bullets penetrating well, and not splitting into fragments, but seeming to cause a rending shock. I met with much more difficulty in trying to kill the young one I needed. I walked and trotted a mile after the herd. The old ones showed little alarm, standing again and again to look at me. Finally I shot one of the two young ones, at four hundred and ten long paces, while a cow stood much nearer, and the bull only three hundred yards off. But this was not all. The four survivors did not leave even after such an experience, but stayed in the plain, not far off, for several hours, and thereby gave Kermit a chance to do something much better worth while than shooting 206 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS them. His shoulder was sore, and he did not wish to use a rifle, and so was devoting himself to his camera, which one of his men always carried. With this, after the exercise of much patience, he finally managed to take a number of pictures of the giraffe, getting within fifty yards of the bull. Nor were the giraffe the only animals that showed a tameness bordering on stupidity. Soon afterward we made out three rhino, a mile away. They were out in the bare plain, alternately grazing and enjoying a noontide rest; the bull by himself, the cow with her calf a quarter of a mile off. There was not a scrap of cover, but we walked up wind to within a hundred and fifty yards of the bull. Even then he did not seem to see us, but the tick-birds, which were clinging to his back and sides, gave the alarm, and he trotted to and fro, uncertain as to the cause of the disturbance. If Heller had not had his hands full with the giraffes I might have shot the bull rhino; but his horn and bulk of body, though fair, were not remarkable, and I did not molest him. He went toward the cow, which left her calf and advanced toward him in distinctly bellicose style; then she recognized him, her calf trotted up, and the three animals stood together, tossing their heads, and evidently trying to make out what was near them. But we were down wind, and they do not see well, with their little twinkling pig's eyes. We were anxious not to be charged by the cow and calf, as her horn was very poor, and it would have been unpleasant to be obliged to shoot her, and so we drew off. . Next day, when Kermit and I were out alone with our gun-bearers we saw. another rhino, a bull, with a stubby horn. This rhino, like the others of the neighborhood, was enjoying his noonday rest in the open, miles from cover; "Look at him," said Kermit, "standing there in the middle of the African plain, deep in prehistoric thought." Indeed the rhinoceros does seem like a survival from the elder world that has vanished; he was in place in the pliocene; he would not have been out of place in the miocene; but 208 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS nowadays he can only exist at all in regions that have lagged behind, while the rest of the world, for good or for evil, has gone forward. Like other beasts, rhinos differ in habits in different places. This prehensile-lipped species is every- where a browser, feeding on the twigs and leaves of the bushes and low trees; but in their stomachs I have found long grass stems mixed with the twig tips and leaves of stunted bush. In some regions they live entirely in rather thick bush; whereas on the plains over which we were hunting the animals haunted the open by preference, feed- ing through thin bush, where they were visible miles away, and usually taking their rest, either standing or lying, out on the absolutely bare plains. They drank at the small shallow rain pools, seemingly once every twenty-four hours; and I saw one going to water at noon, and others just at dark; and their hours for feeding and resting were also irregular, though they were apt to lie down or stand motionless during the middle of the day. Doubtless in very hot weather they prefer to rest under a tree; but we were hunting in cool weather, during which they paid no heed whatever to the sun. Their sight is very bad, their scent and hearing acute. On this day Kermit was shooting from his left shoulder, and did very well, killing a fine Roberts' gazelle, and three topi; I also shot a topi bull, as Heller wished a good series for the National Museum. The topi and wildebeest I shot were all killed at long range, the average distance for the first shot being over three hundred and fifty yards; and in the Sotik, where hunters were few, the game seemed if any- thing shyer than on the Athi Plains, where hunters were many. But there were wide and inexplicable differences in this respect among the animals of the same species. One day I wished to get a doe tommy for the museum; I saw scores, but they were all too shy to let me approach within shot; yet four times I passed within eighty yards of bucks of the same species which paid hardly any heed to me. Another time I walked for five minutes alongside a big I 210 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS party of Roberts' gazelles, within a hundred and fifty yards, trying in vain to pick out a buck worth shooting; half an hour afterward I came on another party which contained such a buck, but they would not let me get within a quarter of a mile. Wildebeest are usually the shyest of all game. Each herd has its own recognized beat, to which it ordinarily keeps. Near this camp, there was a herd almost always to be found somewhere near the southern end of a big hill two miles east of us; while a solitary bull was invariably seen around the base of a small hill a couple of miles south- west of us. The latter was usually in the company of a mixed herd of Roberts' and Thomson's gazelles. Here, as everywhere, we found the different species of game as- sociating freely with one another. One little party inter- ested us much. It consisted of two Roberts' bucks, two Roberts' does, and one Thomson's doe, which was evi- dently a maitresse femme, of strongly individualized char- acter. The four big gazelles had completely surrendered their judgment to that of the little tommy doe. She was the acknowledged leader; when she started they started and followed in whatever direction she led; when she stopped they stopped; if she found a given piece of pasture good, upon it they grazed contentedly. Around this camp the topi were as common as hartebeest; they might be found singly, or in small parties^ perhaps merely of a bull, a cow, and a calf; or they might be mixed with zebra, wildebeest, and hartebeest. Like the hartebeest, but less frequently, they would mount ant-hills to get a better look over the country. The wildebeest were extraordinarily tenacious of life, and the hartebeest and topi only less so. After wounded individ- uals of all three kinds I more than once had sharp runs on horseback. On one occasion I wounded a wildebeest bull a couple of miles from camp; I was riding my zebra- shaped brown pony, who galloped well; and after a sharp run through the bush I overhauled the wildebeest; but when I jumped off, the pony bolted for camp, and as he Giraffe at home From pJwiograpli^ by Kertnii Roosevelt 212 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS disappeared in one direction my game disappeared in the other. At last a day came when I saw a rhino with a big body and a good horn. We had been riding for a couple of hours; the game was all around us. Two gi- raffes stared at us with silly curiosity rather than alarm; twice I was within range of the bigger one. At last Ba- khari, the gun- bearer, pointed to a gray mass on the plain, and a glance through the glasses showed that it was a rhino lying asleep with his legs doub- led under him. He proved to be a big bull, with a front horn nearly twenty - six inches long. I was anx- ious to try the sharp-pointed bul- lets of the little Springfield rifle on him; and Cuning- hame and I, treading cautiously, walked up wind straight toward him, our horses following a hundred yards be- hind. He was waked by the tick-birds, and twisted his head to and fro, but at first did not seem to hear us, although looking in our direction. When we were a hun- dred yards off he rose and faced us, huge and threatening, Bluffs near one of our camping-places From a pliotograph by Edmund Heller HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 213 head up and tail erect. But he lacked heart after all. I fired into his throat, and instead of charging, he whipped round and was off at a gallop, immediately disappearing over a slight rise. We ran back to our horses, mounted, and galloped after him. He had a long start, and, though evidently feeling his wound, was going strong; and it was some time before we overtook him. I tried to gallop alongside, but he kept swerving ; so jumping off (fortunately, I was riding Tranquillity) I emptied the magazine at his quarters and flank. Rapid galloping does not tend to pro- mote accuracy of aim; the rhino went on; and, remounting, I followed, overtook him, and re- peated the perform- ance. This time he wheeled and faced round, evidently with the intention of charg- ing, but a bullet straight into his chest took all the fight out of him, and he continued his flight. But his race was evidently run, and when I next overtook him I brought him down. I had put nine bullets into him; and though they had done their work well, and I was pleased to have killed the huge brute with the Httle sharp-pointed bullets of the Springfield, I was confirmed in my judgment that for me personally the big Holland rifle was the best weapon for heavy game, ahhough I did not care as much for it against lighter- bodied beasts like lions. In all we galloped four miles after this wounded rhino bull. Striped hyena trapped by Heller From a ^holograph by Edmund Heller 214 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS We sent a porter to bring out Heller, and an ox wagon on which to take the skin to camp. While waiting for them I killed a topi bull, at two hundred and sixty yards, with one bullet, and a wildebeest bull with a dozen; I crippled him with my first shot at three hundred and sixty yards, and then walked and trotted after him a couple of miles, getting running and standing shots at from three hundred to five hundred yards. I hit him several times. As with every- thing else I shot, the topi and wildebeest were preserved as specimens for the museum, and their flesh used for food. Our porters had much to do, and they did it well, partly because they were fed well. We killed no game of which we did not make the fullest use. It would be hard to convey to those who have not seen it on the ground an accurate idea of its abundance. W^hen I was walking up to this rhino there were in sight two giraffes, several wildebeest bulls, and herds of hartebeest, topi, zebra, and the big and little gazelles. In addition to being a mighty hunter, and an adept in the by no means easy work of handling a large safari in the wilderness, Cuninghame was also a good field naturalist and taxidermist; and at this camp we got so many speci- mens that he was obliged to spend most of his time helping Heller; and they pressed into the work at times even Tarl- ton. Accordingly Kermit and I generally went off by our- selves, either together or separately. Once, however, Kermit went with Tarlton, and was as usual lucky with cheetahs, killing two. Tarlton was an accomplished elephant, buf- falo, and rhino hunter, but he preferred the chase of the lion to all other kinds of sport; and if lions were not to be found he liked to follow anything else he could gallop on horse- back. Kermit was also a good and hard rider. On this occasion they found a herd of eland, and galloped into it. The big bull they overhauled at once, but saw that his horns were poor and left him. Then they followed a fine cow with an unusually good head. She started at a rattling pace, and once leaped clear over another cow that got in her way; but they rode into her after a mile's smart gallop HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 215 — not a racing gallop by any means — and after that she was as manageable as a tame ox. Cantering and trotting within thirty yards of her on either quarter they drove her toward camp; but when it was still three-quarters of a mile distant they put up a cheetah, and tore after it; and they overtook and killed it just before it reached cover. A cheetah with a good start can only be overtaken by hard running. This one behaved just as did the others they ran down. For quarter of a mile no animal in the world has a cheetah's speed; but he cannot last. When chased the cheetahs did not sprint, but contented themselves with galloping ahead of the horses; at first they could easily keep their distance, but after a mile or two their strength and wind gave out, and then they always crouched flat to the earth, and were shot without their making any attempt to charge. But a wart-hog boar which Kermit ran down the same day and shot with his revolver did charge, and wickedly. While running one of his cheetahs Kermit put up two old wildebeest bulls, and they joined in the procession, looking as if they too were pursuing the cheetah; the chee- tah ran first, the two bulls, bounding and switching their tails, came next, and Kermit, racing in the rear, gained steadily. Wildebeest are the oddest in nature and conduct, and in many ways the most interesting, of all antelopes. Th-ere is in their temper something queer, fiery, eccentric, and their actions are abrupt and violent. A single bull will stand motionless with head raised to stare at an intruder until the latter is quarter of a mile off; then down goes his head, his tail is lashed up and around, and off he gallops, plunging, kicking, and shaking his head. He may go straight away, he may circle round, or even approach nearer to, the intruder; and then he halts again to stare motion- less, and perhaps to utter his grunt of alarm and defiance. A herd when approached, after fixed staring will move off, perhaps at a canter. Soon the leaders make a half wheel, and lead their followers in a semicircle; suddenly a couple of old bulls leave the rest, and at a tearing gallop describe a 216 AFRICAN GMIE TRAILS semicircle in exactly the opposite direction, racing by their comrades as these canter the other way. With one accord the whole troop may then halt and stare again at the object they suspect; then off they all go at a headlong run, kick- ing and bucking, tearing at full speed in one direction, then suddenly wheeling in semicircles so abrupt as to be almost Mr. Roosevelt, rhino, and bustard shot from rhino From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt zigzags, the dust flying in clouds; and two bulls may sud- denly drop to their knees and for a moment or two iight furiously in their own peculiar fashion. By careful stalk- ing Kermit got some good pictures of the wildebeest in spite of their wariness. Like other game they seem most apt to lie down during the heat of the day; but they may lie down at night too; at any rate, I noticed one herd of hartebeest which after feeding through the late afternoon lay down at nightfall. After getting the bull rhino. Heller needed a cow and calf to complete the group; and Kermit and I got him HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 217 what he needed, one day when we were out alone with our gun-bearers. About the middle of the forenoon we made out the huge gray bulk of the rhino, standing in the bare plain, with not so much as a bush two feet high within miles; and we soon also made out her calf beside her. Getting the wind right we rode up within a quarter of a mile, and then dismounted and walked slowly toward her. It seemed impossible that on that bare plain we could escape even her dull vision, for she stood with her head in our direction; yet she did not see us, and actually lay down as we walked toward her. Careful examination through the glasses showed that she was an unusually big cow, with thick horns of fair length — twenty-three inches and thirteen inches respectively. Accordingly we proceeded, making as little noise as possible. At fifty yards she made us out, and jumped to her feet with unwieldy agility. Kneel- ing I sent the bullet from the heavy Holland just in front of her right shoulder as she half faced me. It went through her vitals, lodging behind the opposite shoulder; and at once she began the curious death waltz which is often, though by no means always, the sign of immediate disso- lution in a mortally wounded rhino. Kermit at once put a bullet from his Winchester behind her shoulder; for it is never safe to take chances with a rhino; and we shot the calf, which when dying uttered a screaming whistle, al- most like that of a small steam-engine. In a few seconds both fell, and we walked up to them, examined them, and then continued our ride, sending in a messenger to bring Cuninghame, Heller, and an ox wagon to the carcasses. The stomach of this rhino contained some grass stems and blades, some leaves and twig tips of bushes, but chiefly the thick, thorny, fleshy leaves of a kind of euphorbia. As the juice of the euphorbia's cactus-like leaves is acrid enough to bUster — not to speak of the thorns — this suffices to show what a rhino's palate regards as agreeably stimu- lating. This species of rhino, by the way, affords a curious illustration of how blind many men who live much of their 218 AFRICAN GMIE TRAILS lives out-doors may be to facts which stare them in the face. For years most South African hunters, and most naturaHsts, beheved in the existence of two species of pre- hensile-Hpped, or so-called ''black," rhinoceros: one with the front horn much the longer, one with the rear horn at least equal to the front. It was Selous, a singularly clear- sighted and keen observer, who first proved conclusively that the difference was purely imaginary. Now, the curi- ous thing is that these experienced hunters usually attrib- uted entirely different temperaments to these two imagi- nary species. The first kind, that with the long front horn, they described as a miracle of dangerous ferocity, and the second as comparatively mild and inoffensive; and these veterans (Drummond is an instance) persuaded themselves that this was true, although they were writing in each case of identically the same animal! After leaving the dead rhinos we rode for several miles, over a plain dotted with game, and took our lunch at the foot of a big range of hills, by a rapid little brook, run- ning under a fringe of shady thorns. Then we rode back to camp. Lines of zebra filed past on the horizon. Os- triches fled while we were yet far off. Topi, hartebeest, wildebeest, and gazelle gazed at us as we rode by, the sun- light throwing their shapes and colors into bold relief against the parched brown grass. I had an hour to my- self after reaching camp, and spent it with Lowell's "Es- says." I doubt whether any man takes keener enjoyment in the wilderness than he who also keenly enjoys many other sides of life; just as no man can relish books more than some at least of those who also love horse and rifle and the winds that blow across lonely plains and through the gorges of the mountains. Next morning a lion roared at dawn so near camp that we sallied forth after him. We did not find him, but we enjoyed our three hours' ride through the fresh air before breakfast, v^ith the game as usual on every hand. Some of the game showed tameness, some wildness, the difference Wk. Wildebeest at home Two bulls may suddenly drop to their knees and for a moment or two fight^fiuiously Fram photograflu by Kermit Rootevtli £20 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS being not between species and species, but between given individuals of almost every species. While we were ab- sent two rhinos passed close by camp, and stopped to stare curiously at it; we saw them later as they trotted away, but their horns were not good enough to tempt us. At a distance the sunlight plays pranks with the color- ing of the animals. Cock ostriches always show jet black, and are visible at a greater distance than any of the com- mon game; the neutral tint of the hens making them far less conspicuous. Both cocks and hens are very wary, sharp-sighted, and hard to approach. Next to the cock ostrich in conspicuousness comes the wildebeest, because it shows black in most lights; yet when headed away from the on-looker, the sun will often make the backs of a herd look whitish in the distance. Wildebeest are warier than most other game. Round this camp the topi were as tame as the hartebeest; they look very dark in most lights, only less dark than the wildebeest, and so are also conspicuous. The hartebeest change from a deep brown to a light foxy red, according to the way they stand toward the sun; and when a herd was feeding away from us, their white sterns showed when a very long way off. The zebra's stripes cease to be visible after he is three hundred yards off, but in many lights he glistens white in the far dis- tance, and is then very conspicuous; on this day I came across a mixed herd of zebra and eland in thin bush, and when still a long way off the zebras caught the eye, while their larger companions were as yet hardly to be made out without field-glasses. The gazelles usually show as sandy-colored, and are therefore rather less conspicuous than the others when still; but they are constantly in mo- tion, and in some lights show up as almost white. When they are far off the sun-rays may make any of these ani- mals look very dark or very light. In fact all of them are conspicuous at long distances, and none of them make any effort to escape observation as do certain kinds that haunt dense bush and forest. But constant allowance must be HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 221 made for the wide variations among individuals. Ordi- narily tommies are the tamest of the game, with the big gazelle and the zebra next; but no two herds will behave alike; and I have seen a wildebeest bull look at me motion- less within a hundred and fifty yards, while the zebras, tommies, and big gazelles which were his companions fled in panic; and I left him still standing, as I walked after the gazelles, to kill a buck for the table. The game is usually 4 maBm^m^rnKmammmsammBmaamBBam Rhino and young From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt sensitive to getting the hunter's wind; but on these plains I have again and again seen game stand looking at us within fairly close range to leeward, and yet on the same day seen the same kind of game flee in mad fright when twice the distance to windward. Sometimes there are inexplicable variations between the conduct of beasts in one locality and in another. In East Africa the hyenas seem only occasion- ally to crunch the long bones of the biggest dead animals; whereas Cuninghame, who pointed out this fact to me, stated that in South Africa the hyenas, of the same kind, always crunched up the big bones, eating both the marrow and fragments of the bone itself. 222 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Now and then the game will choose a tree as a rubbing post, and if it is small will entirely destroy the tree; and I have seen them use for the same purpose an oddly shaped stone, one corner of which they had worn quite smooth. They have stamping grounds, small patches of bare earth from which they have removed even the roots of the grass and bushes by the trampling of their hoofs, leaving nothing but a pool of dust. One evening I watched some zebras stringing slowly along in a line which brought them past a couple of these stamping grounds. As they came in succession to each bare place half the herd, one after an- other, lay down and rolled to and fro, sending up spurts of dust so thick that the animal was hidden from sight; while perhaps a companion, which did not roll, stood near by, seemingly to enjoy the dust. On this same evening we rode campward facing a won- derful sunset. The evening was lowering and overcast. The darkening plains stretched dim and vague into the far distance. The sun went down under a frowning sky, behind shining sheets- of rain; and it turned their radiance to an angry splendor of gold and murky crimson. At this camp the pretty little Livingstone's wheatears or chats were very familiar, flitting within a few yards of the tents. They were the earliest birds to sing. Just before our eyes could distinguish the first faint streak of dawn first one and then another of them would begin to sing, apparently either on the ground or in the air, until there was a chorus of their sweet music. Then they were silent again until the sun was about to rise. We always heard them when we made a very early start to hunt. By the way, with the game of the plains and the thin bush, we found that nothing was gained by getting out early in the morning; we were quite as apt to get what we wanted in the evening or indeed at high noon. The last day at this camp Kermit, Tarlton, and I spent on a twelve hours' lion hunt. I opened the day inauspi- ciously, close to camp, by missing a zebra, which we wished HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 223 for the porters. Then Kermit, by a good shot, killed a tom- my buck with the best head we had yet gotten. Early in the afternoon we reached our objective, some high kop- pies, broken by cliffs and covered with brush. There were klipspringers on these koppies, little rock-loving ante- lopes, with tiny hoofs and queer brittle hair; they are mar- vellous jumpers and continually utter a bleating whistle. I broke the neck of one as it ran at a distance of a hun- dred and fifty yards; but the shot was a fluke, and did not make amends for the way I had missed the zebra in the morning. Among the thick brush on these hills were huge euphorbias, aloes bearing masses of orange flowers, and a cactus-like ground plant with pretty pink blossoms. All kinds of game from the plains, even rhino, had wan- dered over these hill-tops. But what especially interested us was that we immedi- ately found fresh beds of lions, and one regular lair. Again and again, as we beat cautiously through the bushes, the rank smell of the beasts smote our nostrils. At last, as we sat at the foot of one koppie, Kermit spied through his glasses a lion on the side of the koppie opposite, the last and biggest; and up it we climbed. On the very summit was a mass of cleft and broken bowlders, and while on these Kermit put up two lions from the bushes which crowded beneath them. I missed a running shot at the lioness, as she made off through the brush. He probably hit the lion, and, very cautiously, with rifles at the ready, we beat through the thick cover in hopes to find it; but in vain. Then we began a hunt for the lioness, as apparently she had not left the koppie. Soon one of the gun-bearers, who was standing on a big stone, peering under some thick bushes, beckoned excitedly to me; and when I jumped up beside him he pointed at the lioness. In a second I made her out. The sleek sinister creature lay not ten paces off, her sinuous body following the curves of the rock as she crouched flat looking straight at me. A stone covered the lower part, and the left of the upper part, of her head; but I saw her £24 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS two unwinking green eyes looking into mine. As she could have reached me in two springs, perhaps in one, I wished to shoot straight; but I had to avoid the rock which covered the lower part of her face, and moreover I fired a httle too much to the left. The bullet went through the side of her head, and in between the neck and shoulder, inflicting a mortal, but not immediately fatal, wound. However it knocked her off the little ledge on which she was lyings and instead of charging she rushed uphill. We promptly followed, and again clambered up the mass of bowlders at the top. Peering over the one on which I had climbed there was the lioness directly at its foot, not twelve feet away, lying flat on her belly; I could only see the aftermost third of her back. I at once fired into her spine; with appalling grunts she dragged herself a few paces downhill; and another bullet behind the shoulder finished her. She was skinned as rapidly as possible; and just before sundown we left the koppie. At its foot was a deserted Masai cattle kraal and a mile from this was a shallow, muddy pool, fouled by the countless herds of game that drank thereat. Toward this we went, so that the thirsty horses and men might drink their full. As we came near we saw three rhinoceros leaving the pool. It was already too dusk for good shooting, and we were rather relieved when, after some inspection, they trotted off and stood at a little distance in the plain. Our men and horses drank, and then we began our ten miles' march through the dark- ness to camp. One of Kermit's gun-bearers saw a puff adder (among the most deadly of all snakes); with de- lightful nonchalance he stepped on its head, and then held it up for me to put my knife through its brain and neck. I slipped it into my saddle pocket, where its blood stained the pigskin cover of the little pocket Nibelungenlied which that day I happened to carry. Immediately afterward there was a fresh alarm from our friends the three rhinos; dismounting, and crouching down, we caught the loom of HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 225 their bulky bodies against the horizon; but a shot in the ground seemed to make them hesitate, and they finally con- cluded not to charge. So, with the lion skin swinging be- hind between two porters, a moribund puff adder in my saddle pocket, and three rhinos threatening us in the dark- A giant candelabra euphorbia by our camp From a photograph by Edmund Heller ness to one side, we marched campward through the African night. Next day we shifted camp to a rush-fringed pool by a grove of tall, flat-topped acacias at the foot of a range of low, steep mountains. Before us the plain stretched, and in front of our tents it was dotted by huge candelabra euphorbias. I shot a buck for the table just as we pitched camp. There were Masai kraals and cattle herds near by, and tall warriors, pleasant and friendly, strolled among our tents, their huge razor-edged spears tipped with furry caps to protect the points. Kermit was off all day with Tarlton, and killed a magnificent lioness. In the morning, IS 226 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS on some high hills, he obtained a good impalla ram, after persevering hours of climbing and running— for only one of the gun-bearers and none of the whites could keep up with him on foot when he went hard. In the afternoon at four he and Tarlton saw the lioness. She was followed by three three-parts grown young lions, doubtless her cubs, and, without any concealment, was walking across the open plain toward a pool by which lay the body of a wilde- beest bull she had killed the preceding night. The smaller lions saw the hunters and shrank back, but the old lioness never noticed them until they were within a hundred and fifty yards. Then she ran back, but Kermit crumpled her up with his first bullet. He then put another bullet into her, and as she seemed disabled walked up within fifty yards, and took some photos. By this time she was recovering, and, switching her tail, she gathered her hind quarters under her for a charge; but he stopped her with another bullet, and killed her outright with a fourth. We heard that Mearns and Loring, whom we had left ten days before, had also killed a lioness. A Masai brought in word to them that he had marked her down taking her noonday rest near a kongoni she had killed; and they rode out, and Loring shot her. She charged him savagely; he shot her straight through the heart, and she fell literally at his feet. The three naturalists were all good shots, and were used to all the mishaps and adventures of life in the wilderness. Not only would it have been indeed difficult to find three better men for their particular work — Heller's work, for instance, with Cuninghame's help, gave the chief point to our big-game shooting — but it would have been equally difficult to find three better men for any emer- gency. I could not speak too highly of them; nor indeed of our two other companions, Cuninghame and Tarlton, whose mastery of their own field was as noteworthy as the pre-eminence of the naturalists in their field. The following morning the headmen asked that we get the porters some meat; Tarlton, Kermit, and I saUied The wounded lioness ready to charge From a pliolograph by Kermit Roosevelt The wounded lioness From a phoiagraph by Kermit Roosevelt 228 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS forth accordingly. The country was very dry, and the game in our immediate neighborhood was not plentiful and was rather shy. I killed three kongoni out of a herd, at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and ninety paces; one topi at three hundred and thirty paces, and a Roberts' gazelle at two hundred and seventy. Meanwhile the other two had killed a kongoni and five of the big ga- zelles; vvherever possible the game being hallalled in ortho- dox fashion by the Mahometans among our attendants, so as to fit it for use by their coreligionists among the por- ters. Then we saw some giraffes, and galloped them to see if there was a really big bull in the lot. They had a long start, but Kermit and Tarlton overtook them after a couple of miles, while I pounded along in the rear. How- ever there was no really good bull, Kermit and Tarlton pulled up, and we jogged along toward the koppies where two days before I had shot the lioness. I killed a big bus- tard, a very handsome, striking-looking bird, larger than a turkey, by a rather good shot at two hundred and thirty yards. It was now mid-day, and the heat waves quivered above the brown plain. The mirage hung in the middle distance, and beyond it the bold hills rose like mountains from a lake. In mid-afternoon we stopped at a little pool, to give the men and horses water; and here Kermit's horse sud- denly went dead lame, and we started it back to camp with a couple of men, while Kermit went forward with us on foot, as we rode round the base of the first koppies. After we had gone a mile loud shouts called our attention to one of the men who had left with the lame horse. He was running back to tell us that they had just seen a big maned lion walking along in the open plain toward the body of a zebra he had killed the night before. Immediately Tarl- ton and I galloped in the direction indicated, while the heart-broken Kermit ran after us on foot, so as not to miss the fun; the gun-bearers and saises stringing out behind him. In a few minutes Tarlton pointed out the lion, a ism^Mi * t|rf'-t^ 3- 1* 1e ;Jtf S HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 231 splendid old fellow, a heavy male with a yellow-and-black mane; and after him we went. There was no need to go fast; he was too burly and too savage to run hard, and we were anxious that our hands should be reasonably steady when we shot; all told, the horses, galloping and canter- ing, did not take us two miles. The lion stopped and lay down behind a bush; jumping off I took a shot at him at two hundred yards, but only wounded him slightly in one paw; and after a moment's sullen hesitation off he went, lashing his tail. We mounted our horses and went after him; Tarlton lost sight of him, but I marked him lying down behind a low grassy ant-hill. Again we dismounted at a distance of two hundred yards; Tarlton telling me that now he was sure to charge. In all East Africa there is no man, not even Cuninghame him- self, whom I would rather have by me than Tarlton, if in difficulties with a charging lion; on this occasion, however, I am glad to say that his rifle was badly sighted, and shot altogether too low. Again I knelt and fired; but the mass of hair on the lion made me think he was nearer than he was, and I undershot, inflicting a flesh wound that was neither crippling nor fatal. He was already grunting savagely and tossing his tail erect, with his head held low; and at the shot the great sinewy beast came toward us with the speed of a greyhound. Tarlton then, very properly, fired, for lion hunting is no child's play, and it is not good to run risks. Ordinarily it is a very mean thing to experience joy at a friend's miss; but this was not an ordinary case, and I felt keen delight when the bullet from the badly sighted rifle missed, strik- ing the ground many yards short. I was sighting carefully, from my knee, and I knew I had the Hon all right; for though he galloped at a great pace, he came on steadily — ears laid back, and uttering terrific coughing grunts — and there was now no question of making allowance for dis- tance, nor, as he was out in the open, for the fact that he had not before been distinctly visible. The bead of my 232 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS foresight was exactly on the centre of his chest as I pressed the trigger, and the bullet went as true as if the place had been plotted with dividers. The blow brought him up all standing, and he fell forward on his head. The soft-nosed Winchester bullet had gone straight through the chest cavity, smashing the lungs and the big blood-vessels of the heart. Painfully he recovered his feet, and tried to come on, his ferocious courage holding out to the last; but he staggered, and turned from side to side, unable to stand firmly, still less to advance at a faster pace than a walk. He had not ten seconds to live; but it is a sound principle to take no chances with lions. Tarlton hit him with his second bullet, probably in the shoulder; and with my next shot I broke his neck. I had stopped him when he was still a hundred yards away; and certainly no finer sight could be imagined than that of this great maned lion as he charged. Kermit gleefully joined us as we walked up to the body; only one of our followers had been able to keep up with him on his two-miles run. He had had a fine view of the charge, from one side, as he ran up, still three hun- dred yards distant; he could see all the muscles play as the lion galloped in, and then everything relax as he fell to the shock of my bullet. The lion was a big old male, still in his prime. Between uprights his length was nine feet four inches, and his weight four hundred and ten pounds, for he was not fat. We skinned him and started for camp, which we reached after dark. There was a thunder-storm in the south-west, and in the red sunset that burned behind us the rain clouds turned to many gorgeous hues. Then daylight failed, the clouds cleared, and, as we made our way across the form- less plain, the half moon hung high overhead, strange stars shone in the brilliant heavens, and the Southern Cross lay radiant above the sky-line. Our next camp was pitched on a stony plain, by a winding stream-bed still containing an occasional rush- fringed pool of muddy water, fouled by the herds and flocks HUNTING IN THE SOTIK £33 of the numerous Masai. Game was plemiful around this camp. We killed what we needed of the common kinds, and in addition each of us killed a big rhino. The two Mr. Roosevelt, Tarlton, and the big lion shot by Mr. Roosevelt From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt rhinos were almost exactly alike, and their horns were of the so-called "Keitloa" type; the fore horn twenty-two inches lon^, the rear over seventeen. The day I killed mine I used all three of my rifles. We all went out together, as Kermit was desirous of taking photos of my rhino, if I shot one; 234 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS he had not been able to get good ones of his on the previous day. We also took the small ox wagon, so as to bring into camp bodily the rhino — if we got it — and one or two zebras, of which we wanted the flesh for the safari, the skeletons for the museum. The night had been cool, but the day was sunny and hot. At first we rode through a broad val- ley, bounded by high, scrub-covered hills. The banks of the dry stream were fringed with deep green acacias, and here and there in relief against their dark foliage flamed the orange-red flowers of the tall aloe clumps. With the Springfield I shot a steinbuck and a lesser bustard. Then we came out on the vast rolling brown plains. With the Winchester I shot two zebra stallions, missing each stand- ing, at long range, and then killing them as they ran; one after a two-miles hard gallop, on my brown pony, which had a good turn of speed. I killed a third zebra stallion with my Springfield, again missing it standing and killing it running. In mid-afternoon we spied our rhino, and getting near saw that It had good horns. It was in the middle of the absolutely bare plain, and we walked straight up to the dull-sighted, dull-witted beast; Kermit with his camera, I with the Holland double-barrel. The tick-birds warned It, but it did not make us out until we were well within a hundred yards, when It trotted toward us, head and tail up. At sixty yards I put the heavy bullet straight into its chest, and knocked it flat with the blow; as it tried to struggle to its feet I again knocked It flat, with the left- hand barrel; but it needed two more bullets before it died, screaming like an engine whistle. Before I fired my last shot I had walked up directly beside the rhino; and just then Tarlton pointed me out a greater bustard, stalking along with unmoved composure at a distance of a hun- dred and fifty yards; I took the Springfield, and kneeling down beside the rhino's hind quarters I knocked over the bustard, and then killed the rhino. We rode into camp by moonlight. Both these rhinos had their stomachs filled with the closely chewed leaves and twig tips of short brush HUNTING IN THE SOTIK 235 mixed with grass — rather thick-stemmed grass — and in one case with the pulpy, spiny leaves of a low, ground-creeping euphorbia. At this camp we killed five poisonous snakes: a light- colored tree snake, two puff adders, and two seven-foot cobras. One of the latter three times "spat" or ejected its poison at us, the poison coming out from the fangs like white A rhino "coming on " From a photograph by Kermil Roosevelt films or threads, to a distance of several feet. A few years ago the singular power of this snake, and perhaps of certain other African species, thus to eject the poison at the face of an assailant was denied by scientists; but it is now well known. Selous had already told me of an instance which came under his own observation; and Tarlton had once been struck in the eyes and for the moment nearly blinded by the poison. He found that to wash the eyes with milk was of much relief. On the bigger puff adder, some four feet long, were a dozen ticks, some swollen to the size of cherries; ap- 236 AFRICAN GA^IE TRAILS parently they were disregarded by their sluggish and deadly host. Heller trapped some jackals, of two species; and two striped hyenas, the first we had seen; apparently more timid and less noisy beasts than their bigger spotted brothers. One day Kermit had our first characteristic experience with a honey bird; a smallish bird, with its beak like a gros- beak's and its toes like a woodpecker's, whose extraordinary habits as a honey-guide are known to all the natives of Africa throughout its range. Kermit had killed an eland bull, and while he was resting, his gun-bearers drew his attention to the calling of the honey bird in a tree near by. He got up, and as he approached the bird, it flew to another tree in front and again began its twitter. This was repeated again and again as Kermit walked after it. Finally the bird darted round behind his followers, in the direction from which they had come; and for a moment they thought it had played them false. But immediately afterward they saw that it had merely overshot its mark, and had now flown back a few rods to the honey-tree, round which it was flitting, occasionally twittering. When they came toward the tree it perched silent and motionless in another, and thus continued while they took some honey — a risky business, as the bees were vicious. They did not observe what the bird then did; but Cuninghame told me that in one instance where a honey bird led him to honey he carefully v/atched it and saw it picking up either bits of honey and comb, or else, more probably, the bee grubs out of the comb, he could not be certain which. To my mind no more interesting incident occurred at this camp. CHAPTER IX TO LAKE NAIVASHA From this camp we turned north toward Lake Nai- vasha. The Sotik country through which we had hunted was sorely stricken by drought. The grass was short and with- ered and most of the water- holes were drying up, while both the game and the flocks and herds of the no- mad Masai gathered round the watercourses in which there were still occasional muddy pools, and grazed their neighborhood bare of pasturage. It was an un- ceasing pleasure to watch the ways of the game and to study their varying hab- its. Where there was a river from which to drink, or where there were many pools, the different kinds of buck, and the zebra, often showed comparatively little timidity about drinking, and came boldly down to the water's edge, sometimes in broad daylight, sometimes in darkness; although even under those conditions they were very cautious if there was cover at the drinking- place. But where the pools were few they never ap- 237 Masai guides on Sotik trip From a photograph by Edmund Heller 238 AFRICAN GMIE TRAILS proached one without feeling panic dread of their great enemy the lion, who, they knew well, might be lurking around their drinking-place. At such a pool I once saw a herd of zebras come to water at nightfall. They stood motionless some distance off; then they slowly approached, and twice on false alarms wheeled and fled at speed; at last the leaders ventured to the brink of the pool and at once the whole herd came jostling and crowding in behind them, the water gurgling down their thirsty throats; and immediately afterward ofl^ they went at a gallop, stopping to graze some hundreds of yards away. The ceaseless dread of the lion felt by all but the heaviest game is amply justified by his ravages among them. They are always in peril from him at the drinking-places; yet in my experience I found that in the great majority of cases they were killed while feeding or resting far from water, the lion getting them far more often by stalking than by lying in wait. A lion will eat a zebra (beginning at the hind quarters, by the way, and some- times having, and sometimes not having, previously disem- bowelled the animal) or one of the bigger buck at least once a week — perhaps once every five days. The dozen lions we had killed would probably, if left alive, have accounted for seven or eight hundred buck, pig, and zebra within the next year. Our hunting was a net advantage to the harmless game. « The zebras were the noisiest of the game. After them came the wildebeest, which often uttered their queer grunt; sometimes a herd w^ould stand and grunt at me for some minutes as I passed, a few hundred yards distant. The topi uttered only a kind of sneeze, and the hartebeest a somewhat similar sound. The so-called Roberts' gazelle was merely the Grant's gazelle of the Athi, with the lyrate shape of the horns tending to be carried to an extreme of spread and backward bend. The tommy bucks carried good horns; the horns of the does were usually aborted, and were never more than four or five inches long. The most notable feature about the tommies was the incessant TO LAKE NAIVASHA 2S9 switching of their tails, as if jerked by electricity. In the Sotik the topis all seemed to have calves of about the same age, as if born from four to six months earlier; the young of the other game were of every age. The males of all the antelope fought much among themselves. The gazelle bucks of both species would face one another, their heads between the forelegs and the horns level with the ground, and each would punch his opponent until the hair flew. Watching the game, one was struck by the intensity and the evanescence of their emotions. Civilized man now usually passes his life under conditions which eliminate the intensity of terror felt by his ancestors when death by violence was their normal end, and threatened them during every hour of the day and night. It is only in nightmares that the average dweller in civilized countries now under- goes the hideous horror which was the regular and frequent portion of his ages-vanished forefathers, and which is still an every -day incident in the lives of most wild creatures. But the dread is short-lived, and its horror vanishes with instantaneous rapidity. In these wilds the game dreaded the lion and the other flesh-eating beasts rather than man. We saw innumerable kills of all the buck, and of zebra, the neck being usually dislocated, and it being evident that none of the lion's victims, not even the truculent wilde- beest or huge eland, had been able to make any fight against him. The game is ever on the alert against this greatest of foes, and every herd, almost every individual, is in immi- nent and deadly peril every few days or nights, and of course sufl^ers in addition from countless false alarms. But no sooner is the danger over than the animals resume their feeding, or love making, or their fighting among themselves. Two bucks will do battle the minute the herd has stopped running from the foe that has seized one of its number, and a buck will cover a doe In the brief Interval between the first and the second alarm, from hunter or Hon. Zebra will make much noise when one of their number has been 240 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS killed; but their fright has vanished when once they be- gin their barking calls. Death by violence, death by cold, death by starvation — these are the normal endings of the stately and beautiful creatures of the wilderness. The sentimentalists who prattle about the peaceful life of nature do not realize its utter The rhino stood looking at us with his big ears cocked forward From a photograph by Kermil Roosevelt mercilessness; although all they would have to do would be to look at the birds in the winter woods, or even at the insects on a cold morning or cold evening. Life is hard and cruel for all the lower creatures, and for man also in what the sentimentalists call a "state of nature." The savage of to-day shows us what the fancied age of gold of our ancestors was really like; it was an age when hunger, cold, violence, and iron cruelty were the ordinary accom- paniments of life. If Matthew Arnold, when he expressed the wish to know the thoughts of Earth's "vigorous, primi- TO LAKE NAIVASHA 241 tive" tribes of the past, had really desired an answer to his question, he would have done well to visit the homes of the existing representatives of his ''vigorous, primitive" ances- tors, and to watch them feasting on blood and guts; while as for the "pellucid and pure" feelings of his imaginary primitive maiden, they were those of any meek, cowlike creature who accepted marriage by purchase or of convenience, as a matter of course. It was to me a perpetual source of won- derment to notice the difference in the be- havior of different individuals of the same species, and in the behavior of the same indi- vidual at differ- ent times; as, for example, in the matter of wari- ness, of the times for going to water, of the times for resting, and, as regards dangerous game, in the matter oi ferocity. Their very looks changed. At one moment the sun would turn the zebras of a mixed herd white, and the hartebeest straw-colored, so that the former could be seen much farther off than the latter; and again the con- ditions would be reversed when under the light the zebras would show up gray, and the hartebeest as red as foxes. I had now killed almost all the specimens of the com- mon game that the museum needed. However, we kept the skin or skeleton of whatever we shot for meat. Now and then, after a good stalk, I would get a boar with unusually fine tusks, a big gazelle with unusually long and graceful horns, or a fine old wildebeest bull, its horns Rhino shot from Salt-marsh camp, of the Keitloa type, with rear horn longer than front horn From a photograph by Edmund Heller 243 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS thick and battered, Its knees bare and calloused from Its habit of going down on them when fighting or threatening fight. On our march northward, we first made a long day's journey to what was called a salt marsh. An hour or two after starting we had a characteristic experience with a rhino. It was a bull, with poor horns, standing in a plain which was dotted by a few straggling thorn-trees and wild olives. The safari's course would have taken it to windward of the rhino, which then might have charged in sheer irri- table bewilderment; so we turned off at right angles. The long line of porters passed him two hundred yards away, while we gun men stood betv^'Cen with our rifles ready; except Kermit, who was busy taking photos. The rhino saw us, but apparently indistinctly. He made little dashes to and fro, and finally stood looking at us, with his big ears cocked forward; but he did nothing more, and we left him standing, plunged in meditation — probably it would be more accurate to say, thinking of absolutely nothing, as if he had been a huge turtle. After leaving him we also passed by files of zebra and topi who gazed at us, intent and curious, within two hundred yards, until we had gone by and the danger was over; whereupon they fled in fright. The so-called salt marsh consisted of a dry watercourse, with here and there a deep muddy pool. The ground was impregnated with some saline substance, and the game licked it, as well as coming to water. Our camp was near two reedy pools, in which there were big yellow- billed ducks, while queer brown herons, the hammerhead, had built big nests of sticks in the tall acacias. Bush cuckoos gurgled in the underbrush by night and day. Brilliant roll- ers flitted through the trees. There was much sweet bird music in the morning. Funny little elephant shrews with long snouts, and pretty zebra mice, evidently of diurnal habit, scampered among the bushes or scuttled into their burrows. Tiny dikdiks, antelopes no bigger than hares, TO LAKE NAIVASHA 243 with swollen muzzles, and their little horns half hidden by tufts of hair, ran like rabbits through the grass; the fe- males were at least as large as the males. Another seven- foot cobra was killed. There were brilliant masses of the red aloe flowers, and of yellow - blossomed vines. Around the pools the ground was bare, and the game trails leading to the water were deeply rutted by the hoofs of the wild creatures that had travelled them for countless generations. The day after reaching this camp, Cuninghame and I hunted on the plains. Before noon we made out with our glasses two rhino lying down, a mile off. As usual with these sluggish creatures we made our preparations in leisurely style, and with scant regard to the animal itself. Moreover we did not intend to kill any rhino unless its horns were out of the common. I first stalked and shot a buck Roberts' gazelle with a good head. Then we off-sad- dled the horses and sat down to lunch under a huge thorn- tree, which stood by itself, lonely and beautiful, and offered a shelter from the blazing sun. The game was grazing on every side; and I kept thinking of all the life of the wilderness, and of its many tragedies, which the great tree must have witnessed during the centuries since it was a seedling. Lunch over, I looked to the loading of the heavy rifle, and we started toward the rhinos, well to leeward. But the wind shifted every which way; and suddenly my gun- bearers called my attention to the rhinos, a quarter of a mile off, saying, "He charging, he charging." Sure enough, they had caught our wind, and were rushing toward us. I jumped off the horse and studied the oncoming beasts through my field-glass; but head on it was hard to tell about the horns. However, the wind shifted again, and when two hundred yards off they lost our scent, and turned to one side, tails in the air, heads tossing, evidently much wrought up. They were a large cow and a young heifer, nearly two-thirds grown. As they trotted sideways I could 244 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS see the cow's horns, and her doom was sealed; for they were of good length, and the hind one (it proved to be two feet long) was slightly longer than the stouter front one; it was a specimen which the museum needed. So after them we trudged over the brown plain. But they were uneasy, and kept trotting and walking. They never saw us with their dull eyes; but a herd of wildebeest galloping by renewed their alarm; it was curious to see them sweeping the ground with their long, ugly heads, en- deavoring to catch the scent. A mile's rapid walk brought us within two hundred yards, and we dared not risk the effort for a closer approach lest they should break and run. The cow turned broadside to, and I hit her behind the shoulder; but I was not familiar with the heavy Holland rifle at that range, and my bullet went rather too low. I think the wound would eventually have proved fatal; but both beasts went off at a gallop, the cow now and then turning from side to side in high dudgeon, trying to catch the wind of her foe. . We mounted our horses, and after a couple of miles' canter overhauled our quarry. Cuning- hame took me well to leeward, and ahead, of the rhinos, which never saw us; and then we walked to within a hun- dred yards, and I killed the cow. But we were now much puzzled by the young one, which refused to leave; we did not wish to kill it, for it was big enough to shift for itself; but it was also big enough to kill either of us. We drew back, hoping it would go away; but it did not. So when the gun- bearers arrived we advanced and tried to frighten it; but this plan also failed. It threatened to charge, but could not quite make up its mind. Watching my chance I then creased its stern with a bullet from the little Springfield, and after some wild circular galloping it finally decided to leave. Kermit, about this time, killed a heavy boar from horse- back after a three-miles run. The boar charged twice, caus- ing the horse to buck and shy. Finally, just as he was going into his burrow backward, Kermit raced by and shot TO LAKE NAIVASHA 245 him, firing his rifle from the saddle after the manner of the old-time Western buffalo runners. We now rejoined Mearns and Loring on the banks of the Guaso Nyero. They had collected hundreds of birds and small mammals^ among them several new species. We had already heard that a Mr. Williams, whom we had met at McMillan's ranch, had been rather badly mauled by a lion, which he had mortally wounded, but which managed to charge home. Now we found that Dr. Mearns had been quite busily engaged in attending to cases of men who were hurt by lions. Loring nearly got in the category. He killed his honess with a light automatic rifle, utterly unfit for use against African game. Though he actually put a bullet right through the beast's heart, the shock from the blow was so slight that she was not stopped even for a sec- ond; he hit her four times in all, each shot being mortal — for he was an excellent marksman, — and she died nearly at his feet, her charge carrying her several yards by him. Mearns had galloped into a herd of wildebeest and killed the big bull of the herd, after first running clean through a mob of zebras^ which, as he passed, skinned their long yellow teeth threateningly at him, but made no attempt actually to attack him. A settler had come down to trade with the Masai during our absence. He ran into a large party of lions, killed two, and wounded a lioness which escaped after mauling one of his gun-bearers. The gun-bearer rode into camp, and the Doctor treated his wounds. Next day Mearns was summoned to a Masai kraal sixteen miles off to treat the wounds of two of the Masai; it appeared that a body of them had followed and killed the wounded lioness, but that two of their number had been much maltreated in the fight. One, especially, had been fearfully bitten, the lioness hav- ing pulled the flesh loose from the bones with her fixed teeth. The Doctor attended to all three cases. The gun- bearer recovered; both the Masai died, although the Doc- tor did all in his power for the two gallant fellows. Their 246 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS deaths did not hinder the Masai from sending to him all kinds of cases in which men or boys had met with acci- dents. He attended to them all, and gained a high reputa- tion with the tribe; when the case was serious the patient's kinsfolk would usually present him with a sheep or war- spear, or something else of value. He took a great fancy to the Masai, as indeed all of us did. They are a fine, manly set of savages, bold and independent in their bear- ing. They never eat vegetables, subsisting exclusively on milk, blood, and flesh ; and are remarkably hardy and enduring. Kermit found a cave which had recently been the abode of a party of 'Ndorobo, the wild hunter-savages of the wilderness, who are more primitive in their ways of life than any other tribes of this region. They live on honey and the flesh of the wild beasts they kill; they are naked, with few and rude arms and utensils; and, in short, carry on existence as our own ancestors did at a very early period of palaeolithic time. Around this cave were many bones. Within it were beds of grass, and a small roofed enclosure of thorn-bushes for the dogs. Fire sticks had been left on the walls, to be ready when the owners' wanderings again brought them back to the cave; and also very curious soup sticks, each a rod with one of the vertebrae of some animal stuck on the end, designed for use in stirring their boiled meat. From our camp on the Guaso Nyero we trekked in a little over four days to a point on Lake Naivasha where we intended to spend some time. The first two days were easy travelling, the porters not being pressed and there being plenty of time in the afternoons to pitch camp comforta- bly; then the wagons left us with their loads of hides and skeletons and spare baggage. The third day we rose long before dawn, breakfasted, broke camp, and were off just at sunrise. There was no path; at one time we followed game trails, at another the trails made by the Masai sheep and cattle, and again we might make our own trail. We TO LAKE NAIVASHA 247 had two Masai guides, tireless runners, as graceful and sinewy as panthers; they helped us; but Cuninghame had to do most of the pathfinding himself. It was a diffi- cult country, passable only at certain points, which it was hard to place with exactness. We had seen that each porter had his water bottle full before starting; but, though will- ing, good-humored fellows, strong as bulls, in fore- thought they are of the grasshopper type; and all but a few exhausted their supply by mid-afternoon. At this time we were among bold mountain ridges, and here we struck the kraal of some Masai, who watered their cattle at some spring pools, three miles to one side, up a valley. It was too far for the heavily laden porters; but we cantered our horses thither and let them drink their fill ; and then can- tered along the trail left by the safari until we overtook the rear men just as they were going over the brink of the Mau escarpment. The scenery was wild and beautiful; in the open places the ground was starred with flowers of many colors; we rode under vine-tangled archways through forests of strange trees. Down the steep mountain side went the safari, and at its foot struck off nearly parallel to the high ridge. On our left the tree-clad mountain side hung above us; ravines. A sick Masai boy and his lallier The sheep is a present to Dr. Mearns for services From a photograph by J. Alden Loring 248 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS with mimosas clustering in them, sundered the foot-hills, and wound until they joined into what looked like rivers; the thick grass grew waist high. It looked like a well- watered country; but it was of porous, volcanic nature, and the soil was a sieve. After nightfall we came to where we hoped to find water; but there was not a drop in the dried pools; and we had to make a waterless camp. A drizzling rain had set in, enough to wet everything, but not enough to give any water for drinking. It v^'as eight o'clock before the last of the weary, thirsty burden-carriers stumbled through the black, bowlder-strewn ravine on whose farther side we were camped, and threw down his load among his fellows, who were already clustered around the little fires they had started in the tall grass. We slept as we were, and comfortably enough; indeed, there was no hardship for us white men, with our heavy overcoats, and our food and water — which we shared with our personal attendants; but I was uneasy for the porters, as there was another long and exhausting day's march ahead. Before sunrise we started; and four hours later, in the bottom of a deep ravine, Cuninghame found a pool of green water in a scooped-out cavity in the rock. It was a pleasant sight to see the thirsty porters drink. Then they sat down, built fires, and boiled their food; and went on in good heart. Two or three times we crossed singularly beautiful ravines, the trail winding through narrow clefts that were almost tunnels, and along the brinks of sheer cliffs, while the green mat of trees and vines was spangled with many colored flowers. Then we came to barren ridges and bare, dusty plains; and at nightfall pitched camp near the shores of Lake Naivasha. It is a lovely sheet of water, surrounded by hills and mountains, the shores broken by rocky prom- ontories, and indented by papyrus-fringed bays. Next morn- ing we shifted camp four miles to a place on the farm, and near the house, of the Messrs. Attenborough, settlers on the shores of the lake, who treated us with the most generous courtesy and hospitality — as, indeed, did all the TO LAKE NAIVASHA 249 settlers we met. They were two brothers; one had Uved twenty years on the Pacific Coast, mining in the Sierras, and the other had just retired from the British navy, with the rank of commander; they were able to turn their hands ';,, — r— i ■''•>. \ , '^"^KB^^KKp-x .•J'} m^m ^^- >•■• ; JJv- ' '^^H^^SBBfr^^lHi- ^ I'v.- •jE^HWuIT^^w >' ^" ft j^^Bp^^^' (2 ^ .■ ^^^^^ "i^'^^fnt/jm r ?^'-5- !"'^^4' " ^ ^ ' ^^K rmSl * ' ;'' '"•■t<^i^ , ' KB .mm - ■ » "'•-T^^ " ":-•."■ ."• ''^^ ■tai ^^^^^^Kj^^« . .»- -"V^v •' •.■ . ■-. •.;-^* ■M ^^HK./' ::S*.''- r.?^^nH^- •■»«fil "^v ^^H ,- .' t ""i «>■ ■ , .r. ■ ..V- L i The waterhole we struck after having made a dry camp on our trek to Naivasha From a photograph by Kermii Roosevelt to anything, and were just the men for work in a new coun- try — for a new country is a poor place for the weak and incompetent, whether of body or mind. They had a steam launch and a big heavy row-boat, and they most kindly and generously put both at our disposal for hippo hunting. 250 AFRICAN GAISIE TRAILS At this camp I presented the porters with twenty-five sheep, as a recognition of their good conduct and hard work; whereupon they improvised long chants in my honor, and feasted royally. We spent one entire day with the row-boat in a series of lagoons near camp, which marked an inlet of the lake. We did not get any hippo, but it was a most interesting Camp at Lake Naivasha From a photograph by Edmund Heller day. A broad belt of papyrus fringed the lagoons and jutted out between them. The straight green stalks with their feathery heads rose high and close, forming a mass so dense that it was practically impenetrable save where the huge bulk of the hippos had made tunnels. Indeed, even for the hippos it was not readily penetrable. The green monotony of a papyrus swamp becomes wearisome after a while; yet it is very beautiful, for each reed is tall, slender, graceful, with its pale flowering crown; and they are typ- ical of the tropics, and their mere sight suggests a vertical sun and hot, steaming swamps, where great marsh beasts feed and wallow and bellow, amidst a teeming reptilian life. TO LAKE NAIVASHA 251 A fringe of papyrus here and there adds much to the beauty of a lake, and also to the beauty of the river pools, where clumps of them grow under the shade of the vine-tangled tropical trees. The open waters of the lagoons were covered with water- lilies, bearing purple or sometimes pink flowers. Across the broad lily pads ran the curious '*lily trotters," or jacanas, \\ atei-lilies, l.ake Naivasha From a photograph by Edmund Heller richly colored birds, with toes so long and slender that the lily pads support them without sinking. They were not shy, and their varied coloring — a bright chestnut being the most conspicuous hue — and singular habits made them very conspicuous. There was a wealth of bird life in the lagoons. Small gulls, somewhat like our black-headed gull, but with their hoods gray, flew screaming around us. Black and white kingfishers, tiny red-billed kingfishers, with colors so brilliant that they flashed like jewels in the sun, and brilliant green bee-eaters with chestnut breasts perched among the reeds. Spur-winged plover clamored as they circled overhead near the edges of the water. Little rails and 252 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS red-legged water-hens threaded the edges of the papyrus, and grebes dived in the open water. A giant heron, the Go- Hath, flew up at our approach; and there were many smaller herons and egrets, white or parti-colored. There were small, dark cormorants, and larger ones with white throats; and African ruddy ducks, and teal and big yellow-billed ducks, somewhat like mallards. Among the many kinds of ducks was one which made a whistling noise with its wings as it flew. Most plentiful of all were the coots, much resembling our common bald-pate coot, but with a pair of horns or papillce at the hinder end of the bare frontal space. There were a number of hippo in these lagoons. One afternoon after four o'clock I saw two standing half out of water in a shallow, eating the water-lilies, They seemed to spend the fore part of the day sleeping or resting in the papyrus or near its edge; toward evening they splashed and waded among the water-lilies, tearing them up with their huge jaws; and during the night they came ashore to feed on the grass and land plants. In consequence those killed during the day; until the late afternoon, had their stomachs filled, not with water plants, but with grasses which they must have obtained in their night journeys on dry land. At night I heard the bulls bellowing and roar- ing. They fight savagely among themselves, and where they are not molested, and the natives are timid, they not only do great damage to the gardens and crops, tram- pling them down and shovelling basketfuls into their huge mouths, but also become dangerous to human beings, at- tacking boats or canoes in a spirit of wanton and ferocious mischief. At this place, a few weeks before our arrival, a young bull, badly scarred, and evidently having been mis- handled by some bigger bull, came ashore in the daytime and actually attacked the cattle, and was promptly shot in consequence. They are astonishingly quick in their movements for such shapeless-looking, short-legged things. Of course they cannot swim in deep water with anything like the speed of the real swimming mammals, nor move What one has to shoot at when after liippo on water From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt ^ir. Kuuse\eli's hippo jharging o[ien-mouthed. Front a p/wto^rapk by Kermit Roosevelt 254 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS on shore with the agiHty and speed of the true denizens of the land; nevertheless, by sheer muscular power and in spite of their shape, they move at an unexpected rate of speed both on dry land and in deep water; and in shallow water, their true home, they gallop very fast on the bot- tom, under water. Ordinarily only their heads can be seen, and they must be shot in the brain. If they are found in a pool with little cover, and if the shots can be taken close by, from firm ground, there is no sport whatever in killing them. But the brain is small and the skull huge, and if they are any distance off, and especially if the shot has to be taken from an unsteady boat, there is ample oppor- tunity to miss. On the day we spent with the big row-boat in the lagoons both Kermit and I had shots; each of us hit, but neither of us got his game. My shot was at the head of a hippo facing me in a bay about a hundred yards off, so that I had to try to shoot very low between the eyes; the water was smooth, and I braced my legs well and fired off-hand. I hit him, but was confident that I had missed the brain, for he lifted sligntly, and then went under, nose last; and when a hippo is shot in the brain the head usually goes under nose first. An exasperating feature of hippo shoot- ing is that, save in exceptional circumstances, where the water is very shallow, the animal sinks at once when killed outright, and does not float for one or two or three hours; so that one has to wait that length of time before finding out whether the game has or has not been bagged. On this occasion we never saw a sign of the animal after I fired, and as it seemed impossible that in that situation the hippo could get off unobserved, my companions thought I had killed him; I thought not, and unfortunately my judg- ment proved to be correct. Another day, in the launch, I did much the same thing. Again the hippo was a long distance off, only his head appearing, but unfortunately not in profile, much the best position for a shot; again I hit him; again he sank and, ^ '^ -5 *• M •n fei 13) tc ^ ■^ -« w. u ?< TO LAKE NAIVASHA 257 look as hard as we could, not a sign of him appeared, so that every one was sure he was dead; and again no body ever floated. But on this day Kermit got his hippo. He hit it first in the head, merely a flesh wound; but the startled creature then rose high in the water and he shot it in the lungs. It now found difficulty in staying under, and con- tinually rose to the surface with a plunge like a porpoise, going as fast as it could toward the papyrus. After it we went, full speed, for once in the papyrus we could not have followed it; and Kermit finally killed it, just before it reached the edge of the swamp, and, luckily, where the water was so shallow that we did not have to wait for it to float, but fastened a rope to two of its turtle-like legs, and towed it back forthwith. There were otters in the lake. One day we saw two playing together near the shore; and at first we were all of us certain that it was some big water snake. It was not until we were very close that we made out the supposed one big snake to be two otters; it was rather interesting, as giving one of the explanations of the stories that always appear about large water snakes, or similar monsters, ex- isting in almost every lake of any size in a wild country. On another day I shot another near shore; he turned over and over, splashing and tumbling; but just as we were about to grasp him, he partially recovered and dived to safety in the reeds. On the second day we went out in the launch I got my hippo. We steamed down the lake, not far from the shore, for over ten miles, dragging the big, clumsy row- boat, in which Cuninghame had put three of our porters who knew how to row. Then we spied a big hippo walk- ing entirely out of water on the edge of the papyrus, at the farther end of a little bay which was filled with water- lilies. Thither we steamed, and when a few rods from the bay, Cuninghame, Kermit, and I got into the row-boat; Cuninghame steered, Kermit carried his camera, and I steadied myself in the bow with the little Springfield rifle. 17 258 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS The hippo was a self-confident, truculent beast; it went under water once or twice, but again came out to the papy- rus and waded along the edge, its body out of water. We headed toward it, and thrust the boat in among the water- lilies, finding that the bay was shallow, from three to six feet deep. While still over a hundred yards from the hippo, I saw it turn as if to break into the papyrus, and at once fired into its shoulder, the tiny pointed bullet smash- ing the big bones. Round spun the great beast, plunged into the water^ and with its huge jaws open came straight for the boat, floundering and splashing through the thick- growing water-lilies. I think that its chief object was to get to deep water; but we were between it and the deep water, and instead of trying to pass to one side it charged straight for the boat, with open jaws, bent on mischief. But I hit it again and again with the little sharp-pointed bullet. Once I struck it between neck and shoulder; once, as it rushed forward with its huge jaws stretched to their threatening utmost, I fired right between them, whereat it closed them with the clash of a sprung bear trap; and then, when under the punishment it swerved for a mo- ment, I hit it at the base of the ear, a brain shot which dropped it in its tracks. Meanwhile Kermit was busily taking photos of it as it charged, and, as he mentioned afterward, until it was dead he never saw it except in the ''finder" of his camera. The water was so shallow where I had killed the hippo that its body projected slightly above the surface. It was the hardest kind of work getting it out from among the water-lilies; then we towed it to camp behind the launch. The engineer of the launch was an Indian Moslem. The fireman and the steersman were two half-naked and much-ornamented Kikuyus. The fireman wore a blue bead chain on one ankle, a brass armlet on the opposite arm, a belt of short steel chains, a dingy blanket (no loin cloth), and a skull-cap surmounted by a plume of ostrich feathers. The two Kikuyus were unconsciously entertaining com- A white-tailed mongoose A porcupine !2G0 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS panions. Without any warning they would suddenly start a song or chant, usually an impromptu recitative of what- ever at the moment interested them. They chanted for half an hour over the feat of the " Bwana Makuba" (great master or chief, my name) in killing the hippo; laying especial stress upon the quantity of excellent meat it would furnish, and how very good the eating would be. Usually one would improvise the chant, and the other join in the chorus. Sometimes they would solemnly sing compliment- ary songs to one another, each in turn chanting the man- ifold good qualities of his companion. Around this camp were many birds. The most note- worthy was a handsome gray eagle owl, bigger than our great horned owl, to which it is closely akin. It did not hoot or scream, its voice being a kind of grunt, followed in a second or two by a succession of similar sounds, uttered more quickly and in a lower tone. These big owls fre- quently came round camp after dark, and at first their notes completely puzzled me, as I thought they must be made by some beast.. The bulbuls sang well. Most of the birds were in no way like our home birds. Loring trapped quantities of mice and rats, and it was curious to see how many of them had acquired characters which caused them superficially to resemble American animals with which they had no real kinship. The sand rats that burrowed in the dry plains were in shape, in color, eyes, tail, and paws strikingly like our pocket gophers, which have similar habits. So the long-tailed gerbilles, or gerbille-like rats, resembled our kangaroo rats; and there was a blunt-nosed, stubby-tailed little rat superficially hardly to be told from our rice rat. But the most charac- teristic rodent, the big long-tailed, jumping springhaas, re- sembled nothing of ours; and there were tree rats and spiny mice. There were gray monkeys in the trees around camp, which the naturalists shot. Heller trapped various beasts; beautifully marked genets, and a big white-tailed mongoose which was very ,£!i TO LAKE NAIVASHA ^261 savage. But his most remarkable catch was a leopard. He had set a steel trap, fastened to a loose thorn-branch, for mongoose, civets, or jackals; it was a number two Blake, such as in America we use for coons, skunks, foxes, and perhaps bobcats and coyotes. In the morning he found it gone, and followed the trail of the thorn-branch until it led into a dense thicket, from which issued an ominous growl. His native boy shouted "simba"; but it was a leopard, not a lion. He could not see into the thicket; so he sent back to camp for his rifle, and when it came he climbed a tree and endeavored to catch a glimpse of the animal. He could see nothing, however; and finally fired into the thicket rather at random. The answer was a fu- rious growl, and the leopard charged out to the foot of the tree, much hampered by the big thorn-branch. He put a bullet into it, and back it went, only to come out and to receive another bullet; and he killed it. It was an old male, in good condition, weighing one hundred and twenty-six pounds. The trap was not big enough to contain his whole paw, and he had been caught firmly by one toe. The thorn-bush acted as a drag, which prevented him from going far, and yet always yielded somewhat when he pulled. A bear thus caught would have chewed up the trap or else pulled his foot loose, even at the cost of sacrificing the toe; but the cats are more sensitive to pain. This leopard was smaller than any full-grown male cougar I have ever killed, and yet cougars often kill game rather heavier than leopards usually venture upon; yet very few cougars indeed would show anything like the pluck and ferocity shown by this leopard, and characteristic of its kind. Kermit killed a waterbuck of a kind new to us, the singsing. He also killed two porcupines and two baboons. The porcupines are terrestrial animals, living in burrows to which they keep during the daytime. They are much heavier than, and in all their ways totally different from, our sluggish tree porcupines. The baboons were numer- ous around this camp, living both among the rocks and in 262 AFRICAN GA^IE TRAILS the tree tops. They are hideous creatures. They ravage the crops and tear open new-born lambs to get at the milk Inside them; and where the natives are timid and unable to harm them, they become wantonly savage and aggres- sive and attack and even kill women and children. In Uganda, Cuninghame had once been asked by a native chief to come to his village and shoot the baboons, as they had just killed two women, badly bitten several children, and caused such a reign of terror that the village would be abandoned if they were not killed or intimidated. He him- self saw- the torn and mutilated bodies of the dead women; and he stayed in the village a week, shooting so many ba- boons that the remainder were thoroughly cowed. Baboons and boars are the most formidable of all foes to the dogs that hunt them — just as leopards are of all wild animals those most apt to prey on dogs. A baboon's teeth and hands are far more formidable weapons than those of any dog, and only a very few wholly exceptional dogs of huge size, and great courage and intelligence, can, single-handed, contend with an old male. But we saw a settler whose three big terriers could themselves kill a full-grown wart-hog boar; an almost unheard-of feat. They backed up one another with equal courage and adroitness, their aim being for two to seize the hind legs; then the third, watching his chance, would get one foreleg, when the boar was speedily thrown, and, when weakened, killed by bites in his stomach. Hitherto we had not obtained a bull hippo, and I made up my mind to devote myself to getting one, as otherwise the group for the museum would be incomplete. Save in exceptional cases I do not think hippo hunting, after the first one has been obtained, a very attractive sport, because usually one has to wait an hoar before it is possible to tell whether or not a shot has been successful, and also be- cause, a portion of the head being all that is usually visible, it is exceedingly difficult to say whether the animal seen is a bull or a cow. As the time allowed for a shot is very short, and any hesitation probably insures the animal's TO L-\KE XAn\\SHA 263 escape, this means that two or three hippo may be killed, quite una\oidably, before the right specimen is secured. Still there may be interesting and exciting incidents in a Mr Roosevelt and Cuninybame discussing the next few days" march over a wildebeest shot by Mr. Roosevelt From a p)u>lo graph by Kermii Roosevdt hippo hunt. Cuninghame, the two Attenboroughs, and I started early in the launch, towing the big, clumsy row-boat, uith as crew three of our porters who could row. We steamed down the lake some fifteen miles to a wide bay, -264 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS indented by smaller bays, lagoons, and inlets, all fringed by a broad belt of impenetrable papyrus, while the beauti- ful purple lilies, with their leathery-tough stems and broad surface-floating leaves, filled the shallows. At the mouth of the main bay we passed a floating island, a mass of papy- rus perhaps a hundred and fifty acres in extent, which had been broken ofl^ from the shore somewhere, and was float- ing over the lake as the winds happened to drive it. In an opening in the dense papyrus masses we left the launch moored, and Cuninghame and I started in the row- boat to coast the green wall of tall, thick-growing, feather- topped reeds. Under the bright sunshine the shallow flats were alive with bird life. Gulls, both the gray-hooded and the black-backed, screamed harshly overhead. The chest- nut-colored lily trotters tripped daintily over the lily pads, and when they flew, held their long legs straight behind them, so that they looked as if they had tails like pheasants. Sacred ibis, white with naked black head and neck, stalked along the edge of the water, and on the bent papyrus small cormorants and herons perched. Everywhere there were coots and ducks, and crested grebes, big and little. Huge white pelicans floated on the water. Once we saw a string of flamingoes fly by, their plumage a wonderful red. Immediately after leaving the launch we heard a hippo, hidden in the green fastness on our right, uttering a med- itative soliloquy, consisting of a succession of squealing grunts. Then we turned a point, and in a little bay saw six or eight hippo, floating with their heads above water. There were two much bigger than the others, and Cuning- hame, while of course unable to be certain, thought these were probably males. The smaller ones, including a cow and her calf, were not much alarmed, and floated quietly, looking at us, as we cautiously paddled and drifted nearer; but the bigger ones dove and began to work their way past us toward deep water. We could trace their course by the twisting of the lily pads. Motionless the rowers lay on their oars; the line of moving lily pads showed that one o s M :r 266 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS of the big hippo was about to pass the boat; suddenly the waters opened close at hand and a monstrous head ap- peared. "Shoot," said Cuninghame; and I fired into the back of the head just as it disappeared. It sank out of sight without a splash, almost without a ripple, the lily pads ceased twisting; a few bubbles of air rose to the surface; evidently the hippo lay dead underneath. Poling to the spot, we at once felt the huge body with our oar blades. But, alas^ when the launch came round, and we raised the body, it proved to be that of a big cow. So I left Cuninghame to cut off the head for the museum, and started off by myself in the boat with two rowers, neither of whom spoke a word of English. For an hour we saw only the teeming bird life. Then, in a broad, shal- low lagoon, we made out a dozen hippo, two or three very big. Cautiously we approached them, and when seventy yards off I fired at the base of the ear of one of the largest. Down went every head, and utter calm succeeded. I had marked the spot where the one at which I shot had disappeared, and thither we rowed. When we reached the place, I told one of the rowers to thrust a pole down and see if he could touch the dead body. He thrust according, and at once shouted that he had found the hippo; in another moment his face altered, and he shouted much more loudly that the hippo was alive. Sure enough, bump went the hippo against the bottom of the boat, the jar causing us all to sit suddenly down — for we were standing. Another bump showed that we had again been struck; and the shal- low, muddy water boiled, as the huge beasts, above and below the surface, scattered every which way. Their eyes starting, the two rowers began to back water out of the dangerous neighborhood, while I shot at an animal whose head appeared to my left, as it made off with frantic haste; for I took it for granted that the hippo at which I had first fired (and which was really dead) had escaped. This one disappeared as usual, and I had not the slightest idea whether or not I had killed it. I had small opportunity to TO LAKE NAIVASHA 267 ponder the subject, for twenty feet away the water bubbled and a huge head shot out facing me, the jaws wide open. There was no time to guess at its intentions, and I fired on the instant. Down went the head, and I fek the boat quiver as the hippo passed underneath. Just here the Hly pads were thick; so I marked its course, fired as it rose, and down it went. But on the other quarter of the boat a beast, evidently of great size — it proved to be a big bull— now appeared, well above water; and I put a bullet into its brain. I did not wish to shoot again unless I had to, and stood motionless, with the little Springfield at the ready. A head burst up twenty yards off, with a lily pad plastered over one eye, giving the hippo an absurd resemblance to a discom- fited prize-fighter, and then disappeared with great agita- tion. Two half-grown beasts stupid from fright appeared, and stayed up for a minute or two at a time, not knowing what to do. Other heads popped up, getting farther and farther away. By degrees everything vanished, the water grew calm, and we rowed over to the papyrus, moored our- selves by catching hold of a couple of stems, and awaited events. Within an hour four dead hippos appeared: a very big bull and three big cows. Of course, I would not have shot the latter if it could have been avoided; but under the circumstances I do not see how it was possible to help it. The meat was not wasted; on the contrary it was a god- send, not only to our own porters, but to the natives round about, many of whom were on short commons on account of the drought. Bringing over the launch we worked until after dark to get the bull out of the difficult position in which he lay. It was nearly seven o'clock before we had him fixed for towing on one quarter, the row-boat towing on the other, by which time two hippos were snorting and blowing within a few yards of us, their curiosity much excited as to what was going on. The night was overcast; there were drench- ing rain squalls, and a rather heavy sea was running, and I ^68 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS did not get back to camp until after three. Next day the launch fetched in the rest of the hippo meat. From this camp we went into Naivasha, on the hne of the railway. In many places the road was beautiful, lead- ing among the huge yellow trunks of giant thorn-trees, the Mr. Roosevelt's big bull hippo From a photograph by Kermil Roosevelt ground rising sheer on our left as we cantered along the edge of the lake. We passed impalla, tommies, zebra, and wart-hog; and in one place saw three waterbuck cows feed- ing just outside the papyrus at high noon. They belonged to a herd that lived in the papyrus and fed on the grassy flats outside; and their feeding in the open exactly at noon was another proof of the fact that the custom of feeding in the early morning and late evening is with most game entirely artificial and the result of fear of man. Birds TO LAKE NAIVASHA • 269 abounded. Parties of the dark-colored ant-eating wheat- ear sang sweetly from trees and bushes, and even from the roofs of the settlers' houses. The tricolored starlings — black, white, and chestnut — sang in the air, as well as when perched on twigs. Stopping at the government farm (which is most interesting; the results obtained in im- proving the native sheep, goats, and cattle by the use of imported thoroughbred bulls and rams have been astonish- ingly successful) we saw the little long-tailed, red-billed, black and white whydahs flitting around the out-build- ings as familiarly as sparrows. Water birds of all kinds thronged the meadows bordering the papyrus, and swam and waded among the water-lilies ; sacred ibis, herons, beautiful white spoonbills, darters, cormorants, Egyptian geese, ducks, coots, and water-hens. I got up within rifle range of a flock of the queer ibis stork, black and white birds with curved yellow bills, naked red faces, and won- derful purple tints on the edges and the insides of the wings; with the little Springfield I shot one on the ground and another on the wing, after the flock had risen. That night Kermit and Dr. Mearns went out with lanterns and shot-guns, and each killed one of the spring- haas, the jumping hares, which abounded in the neigh- borhood. These big, burrowing animals, which progress by jumping like kangaroos, are strictly nocturnal, and their eyes shine in the glare of the lanterns. Next day I took the Fox gun, which had already on ducks, guinea-fowl, and francolin shown itself an excep- tionally hard-hitting and close-shooting weapon, and col- lected various water birds for the naturalists; among others, a couple of Egyptian geese. I also shot a white pelican with the Springfield rifle; there was a beautiful rosy flush on the breast. Here we again got news of the outside world. While on safari the only newspaper which any of us ever saw was the Owego Gazette, which Loring, in a fine spirit of neigh- borhood loyalty, always had sent to him in his mail. To !270 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS the Doctor, by the way, I had become knit in a bond of close intellectual sympathy ever since a chance allusion to "William Henry's Letters to His Grandmother" had disclosed the fact that each of us, ever since the days of his youth, had preserved the bound volumes of *'Our Young Folks," and moreover firmly believed that there never had been its equal as a magazine, whether for old or young; even though the Plancus of our golden consulship was the not wholly happy Andrew Johnson. I CHAPTER X ELEPHANT HUNTING ON MOUNT KENIA On July 24th, in order to ship our fresh accumulations of specimens and trophies, we once more went into Nairobi. It was a pleasure again to see its tree-bordered streets and Meru porters carrying tropliy ivory From a photograph by Edmund Heller charming houses bowered in vines and bushes, and to meet once more the men and women who dwelt in the houses. I wish it were in my power to thank individually the members of the many East African households of which I shall always cherish warm memories of friendship and regard. At Nairobi I saw Sclous, who had just returned from a two months' safari with McMillan, Williams, and Judd. Their experience shows how large the element of luck is in lion hunting. Selous was particularly anxious to hill a good lion; there is nowhere to be found a more skilful or more hard-working hunter; yet he never even got a shot. 271 272 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Williams, on the other hand, came across three. Two he killed easily. The third charged him. He was carrying a double-barrelled .450, but failed to stop the beast; it seized him by the leg, and his life was saved by his Swahili gun-bearer, who gave the lion a fatal shot as it stood over him. He came within an ace of dying; but when I saw him, at the hospital, he was well on the road to recovery. One day Selous while on horseback saw a couple of lion- esses, and galloped after them, followed by, Judd, seventy or eighty yards behind. One lioness stopped and crouched under a bush, let Selous pass, and then charged Judd. She was right alongside him, and he fired from the hip; the bullet went into her eye; his horse jumped and swerved at the shot, throwing him off, and he found himself sitting on the ground, not three yards from the dead lioness. Nothing more was seen of the other. Continually I met men with experiences in their past lives which showed how close the country was to those primitive conditions in which warfare with wild beasts was one of the main features of man's existence. At one dinner my host and two of my fellow-guests had been within a year or eighteen months severely mauled by lions. All three, by the way, informed me that the actual biting caused them at the moment no pain whatever; the pain came later. On meeting Harold Hill, my companion on one of my Kapiti Plains lion hunts, I found that since I had seen him he had been roughly handled by a dying leopard. The government had just been obliged to close one of the trade routes to native caravans because of the ravages of a man- eating lion, which carried men away from the camps. A safari which had come in from the north had been charged by a rhino, and one of the porters tossed and killed, the horn being driven clean through his loins. At Heatley's farm three buffalo (belonging to the same herd from which we had shot five) rushed out of the papyrus one afternoon at a passing buggy, which just managed to escape by a breakneck run across the level plain, the beasts chasing it ELEPHANT HUNTING 278 for a mile. One afternoon, at Government House, I met a government official who had once succeeded in driving into a corral seventy zebras, including more stallions than mares; their misfortune in no way abated their savagery toward one another, and as the limited space forbade the escape of the weaker, the stallions fought to the death with teeth and hoofs during the first night, and no less than twenty were killed outright or died of their wounds. Most of the time in Nairobi we were the guests of ever- hospitable McMillan, in his low, cool house, with its broad, vine-shaded veranda, running around all four sides, and its garden, fragrant and brilliant with innumerable flowers. Birds abounded, singing beautifully; the bulbuls were the most noticeable singers, but there were many others. The dark ant-eating chats haunted the dusky roads on the out- skirts of the town, and were interesting birds; they were usually found in parties, flirted their tails up and down as they sat on bushes or roofs or wires, sang freely in chorus until after dusk, and then retired to holes in the ground for the night. A tiny owl with a queer little voice called con- tinually not only after nightfall, but in the bright afternoons. Shrikes spitted insects on the spines of the imported cactus in the gardens. It was race week, and the races, in some of which Kermit rode, were capital fun. The white people — army officers, government officials, farmers from the country roundabout, and their wives — rode to the races on ponies or even on camels, or drove up in rickshaws, in gharries, in bullock tongas, occasionally in automobiles, most often in two- wheel carts or rickety hacks drawn by mules and driven by a turbaned Indian or a native in a cotton shirt. There were Parsees, and Goanese dressed just like the Europeans. There were many other Indians, their picturesque women- kind gaudy in crimson, blue, and safi^ron. The constabu- lary, Indian and native, were in neat uniforms and well set up, though often barefooted. Straight, slender Somalis with clear-cut features were in attendance on the horses. 18 274 AFRICAN GA^IE TRAILS Native negroes, of many different tribes, flocked to the race-course and its neighborhood. The Swahihs, and those among the others who aspired toward civiHzation, were well clad, the men in half European costume, the women in flowing, parti-colored robes. But most of them were clad, or unclad, just as they always had been. Wakamba, with filed teeth, crouched in circles on the ground. Kikuyu passed, the men each with a blanket hung round the shoul- ders, and girdles of chains, and armlets and anklets of solid metal; the older women bent under burdens they carried on the back, half of them in addition with babies slung somewhere round them, while now and then an un- married girl would have her face painted with ochre and vermilion. A small party of Masai warriors kept close together, each clutching his shining, long-bladed war spear, their hair daubed red and twisted into strings. A large band of Kavirondo, stark naked, with shield and spear and head-dress of nodding plumes, held a dance near the race- track. As for the races themselves, they were carried on in the most sporting spirit, and only the Australian poet Pat- terson could adequately write of them. On August 4th I returned to Lake Naivasha, stopping on the way at Kijabe to lay the corner-stone of the new mission building. Mearns and Loring had stayed at Nai- vasha and had collected many birds and small mammals. That night they took me out on a springhaas hunt. Thanks to Kermit we had discovered that the way to get this curi- ous and purely nocturnal animal was by ** shining" it with a lantern at night, just as in our own country deer, coons, owls, and other creatures can be killed. Springhaas live in big burrows, a number of them dwelling together in one community, the holes close to one another, and making what in the West we would call a "town" in speaking of prairie dogs. At night they come out to feed on the grass. They are as heavy as a big jack-rabbit, with short forelegs, and long hind legs and tail, so that they look and on occasion move like miniature kangaroos, although, in addition to ELEPHANT HUNTING £75 making long hops or jumps, they often run almost like an ordinary rat or rabbit. They are pretty creatures, fawn- colored above, and white beneath, with the terminal half of the tail very dark. In hunting them we simply walked over the flats for a couple of hours, flashing the bull's-eye lantern on all sides, until we saw the light reflected back by a springhaas's eyes. Then I would ap- proach to within range, and hold the lantern in my left hand so as to shine both on the sight and on the eyes in front, resting my gun on my left wrist. The number 3 shot, in the Fox double- barrel, would always do the business, if I held straight enough. There was nothing but the gleam of the eyes to shoot at; and this might suddenly be raised or lowered as the intently watching animal crouched on all- fours or raised itself on its hind legs. I shot half a dozen, all that the naturalists wanted. Then I tried to shoot a fox; but the moon had risen from behind a cloud bank; I had to take a long shot and missed; but my companions killed several, and found that they were a new species of the peculiar African long-eared fox. While waiting for the safari to get ready, Kermit went off on a camping trip and shot two bushbuck, while I spent a couple of days trying for singsing waterbuck on the edge of the papyrus. I missed a bull, and wounded another which I did not get. This was all the more exasperating because interspersed with the misses were some good shots: I killed A waterbuck From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 276 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS a tine waterbuck cow at a hundred yards, and a buck tommy for the table at two hundred and fifty; and, after missing a handsome black and white, red-billed and red- legged jabiru, or saddle-billed stork, at a hundred and fifty yards, as he stalked through the meadow after frogs, I cut him down on the wing at a hundred and eighty, with the Creek on slopes of Kenia near first elephant camp From a pholograph by Edmund Heller little Springfield rifle. The waterbuck spent the daytime outside, but near the edge of, the papyrus; I found them grazing or resting, in the open, at all times between early morning and late afternoon. Some of them spent most of the day in the papyrus, keeping to the watery trails made by the hippos and by themselves; but this was not the general habit, unless they had been persecuted. When frightened they often ran into the papyrus, smashing the dead reeds and splashing the water in their rush. They are noble-looking antelope, with long, shaggy hair, and their chosen haunts beside the lake were very attractive. Clumps of thorn-trees and flowering bushes grew at the edge of the tall papyrus here and there, and often formed a matted ELEPHANT HUNTING ^77 jungle, the trees laced together by creepers, many of them brilliant in their bloom. The climbing morning-glories sometimes completely covered a tree with their pale-purple flowers; and other blossoming vines spangled the green over which their sprays were flung with masses of bright yellow. Four days' march from Naivasha, where we again left Mearns and Loring, took us to Neri. Our line of march lay across the high plateaus and mountain chains of the Aberdare range. The steep, twisting trail was slippery with mud. Our last camp, at an altitude of about ten thousand feet, was so cold that the water froze in the basins, and the shivering porters slept in numbed discomfort. There was constant fog and rain, and on the highest plateau the bleak landscape, shrouded in driving mist, was northern to all the senses. The ground was rolling, and through the deep valleys ran brawling brooks of clear water; one little foaming stream, suddenly tearing down a hill-side, might have been that which Childe Roland crossed before he came to the dark tower. There was not much game, and it generally moved abroad by night. One frosty evening we killed a duiker by shin- ing its eyes. We saw old elephant tracks. The high, wet levels swarmed with mice and shrews, just as our arctic and alpine meadows swarm with them. The species were really widely different from ours, but many of them showed curious analogies in form and habits; there was a short- tailed shrew much like our mole shrew, and a long-haired, short-tailed rat like a very big meadov/ mouse. They were so plentiful that we frequently saw them, and the grass was cut up by their runways. They were abroad during the day, probably finding the nights too cold, and in an hour Heller trapped a dozen or two individuals belonging to seven species and five different genera. There were not many birds so high up. There were deer ferns; and Spanish moss hung from the trees and even from the bam- boos. The flowers included utterly strange forms, as for instance giant lobelias ten feet high. Others we know 278 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS in our gardens; geraniums and red-hot pokers, which in places turned the glades to a fire color. Yet others either were like, or looked like, our own wild flowers: orange lady-slippers, red gladiolus on stalks six feet high, pansy- like violets, and blackberries and yellow raspberries. There were stretches of bushes bearing masses of small red or large white flowers shaped somewhat like columbines, or like the garden balsam; the red flower bushes were under the bamboos, the white at a lower level. The crests and upper slopes of the mountains were clothed in the green uniformity of the bamboo forest, the trail winding dim under its dark archway of tall, close-growing stems. Lower down were junipers and yews, and then many other trees, with among them tree ferns and strange dragon-trees with lily- like frondage. Zone succeeded zone from top to bottom, each marked by a difl^erent plant life. In this part of Africa, where flowers bloom and birds sing all the year round, there is no such burst of bloom and song as in the northern spring and early summer. There is nothing like the mass of blossoms which carpet the meadows of the high mountain valleys and far northern meadows, during their brief high tide of life, when one short joyous burst of teeming and vital beauty atones for the long death of the iron fall and winter. So it is with the bird songs. Many of them are beautiful, though to my ears none quite as beautiful as the best of our own bird songs. At any rate there is nothing that quite corresponds to the chorus that during May and June moves northward from the Gulf States and southern California to Maine, Minnesota, and Oregon, to Ontario and Saskatchewan; when there comes the great vernal burst of bloom and song; when the may- flower, bloodroot, wake-robin, anemone, adder's tongue, liverwort, shadblow, dogwood, redbud, gladden the woods; when mocking-birds and cardinals sing in the magnolia groves of the South, and hermit thrushes, winter wrens, and sweetheart sparrows in the spruce and hemlock forests of the North; when bobolinks in the East and meadow- ii -s 280 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS larks East and West sing in the fields; and water ousels by the cold streams of the Rockies, and canyon wrens in their sheer gorges; when from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific wood thrushes, veeries, rufous-backed thrushes, robins, bluebirds, orioles, thrashers, cat-birds, house finches, song sparrows — some in the East, some in the West, some both East and West — and ^any, many other singers thrill the gardens at sunrise; until the long days begin to shorten, and tawny lilies burn by the roadside, and the indigo bunt- ings trill from the tops of little trees throughout the hot afternoons. We were in the Kikuyu country. On our march we met several parties of natives. I had been much inclined to pity the porters, who had but one blanket apiece; but when I saw the Kikuyus, each with nothing but a smaller blanket, and without the other clothing and the tents of the porters, I realized how much better off the latter were simply because they were on a white man's safari. At Neri boma we were greeted with the warmest hospitality by the district commissioner, Mr. Browne. Among other things, he arranged a great Kikuyu dance in our honor. Two thousand warriors, and many women, came in; as well as a small party of Masai moran. The warriors were naked, or half-naked; some carried gaudy blankets, others girdles of leopard skin; their ox-hide shields were colored in bold patterns, their long-bladed spears quivered and gleamed. Their faces and legs were painted red and yellow; the faces of the young men who were about to undergo the rite of circumcision were stained a ghastly white, and their bodies fantastically painted. The warriors wore bead neck- laces and waist belts and armlets of brass and steel, and spurred anklets of monkey skin. Some wore head-dresses made out of a lion's mane or from the long black and white fur of the Colobus monkey; others had plumes stuck in their red-daubed hair. They chanted in unison a deep- toned chorus, and danced rhythmically in rings, while the drums throbbed and the horns blared; and they danced ELEPHANT HUNTING 281 by us in column, springing and chanting. The women shrilled applause, and danced in groups by themselves. The Masai circled and swung in a panther-like dance of their own, and the measure, and their own fierce singing and calling, maddened them until two of their number, their eyes staring, their faces working, went into fits, of ber- serker frenzy, and were disarmed at once to prevent mis- chief. Some of the tribesmen held wilder dances still in the evening, by the light of fires that blazed in a grove where their thatched huts stood. The second day after reaching Neri the clouds lifted and we dried our damp clothes and blankets. Through the bright sunlight we saw in front of us the high rock peaks of Kenia, and shining among them the fields of ever- lasting snow which feed her glaciers; for beautiful, lofty Kenia is one of the glacier-bearing mountains of the equator. Here Kermit and Tarlton went northward on a safari of their own, while Cuninghame, Heller, and I headed for Kenia itself. For two days we travelled through a well- peopled country. The fields of corn — always called mealies in Africa — of beans, and sweet-potatoes, with occasional plantations of bananas, touched one another in almost un- interrupted succession. In most of them we saw the Ki- kuyu women at work with their native hoes; for among the Kikuyus, as among other savages, the woman is the drudge and beast of burden. Our trail led by clear, rushing streams, which formed the head-waters of the Tana; among the trees fringing their banks were graceful palms, and there were groves of tree ferns here and there on the sides of the gorges. On the afternoon of the second day we struck upward among the steep foot-hills of the mountain, riven by deep ravines. We pitched camp in an open glade, surrounded by the green wall of tangled forest, the forest of the tropical mountain sides. The trees, strange of kind and endless in variety, grew tall and close, laced together by vine and creeper, while £82 .\FR1CAN GAME TRAILS underbrush crowded the space between their mossy trunks, and covered the leafy mould beneath. Toward dusk crested ibis flew overhead with harsh clamor, to seek their night roosts; parrots chattered, and a curiously home-like touch was given by the presence of a thrush in color and shape al- most exactly like our robin. Monkeys called in the depths Kikuyu village near first elephant camp From a photograph by Edmund Heller of the forest, and after dark tree-frogs piped and croaked, and the tree hyraxes uttered their wailing cries. Elephants dwelt permanently in this mountainous re- gion of heavy woodland. On our march thither we had already seen their traces in the "shambas," as the culti- vated fields of the natives are termed; for the great beasts are fond of raiding the crops at night, and their inroads often do serious damage. In this neighborhood their habit is to live high up in the mountains, in the bamboos, while the weather is dry; the cows and calves keeping closer to the bamboos than the bulls. A spell of wet weather, such as we had fortunately been having, drives them down in the dense forest which covers the lower slopes. Here they ELEPHANT HUNTING 283 may either pass all their time, or at night they may go still further down, into the open valley where the shambas lie; or they may occasionally still do what they habitually did in the days before the white hunters came, and wander far away, making migrations that are sometimes seasonal, and sometimes irregular and unaccountable. No other animal, not the lion himself, is so constant a theme of talk, and a subject of such unflagging interest round the camp-fires of African hunters and in the native villages of the African wilderness^ as the elephant. Indeed the elephant has always profoundly impressed the imagi- nation of mankind. It is, not only to hunters, but to natu- ralists, and to all people who possess any curiosity about wild creatures and the wild life of nature, the most in- teresting of all animals. Its huge bulk, its singular form, the value of its ivory, its great intelligence — in which it is only matched, if at all, by the highest apes, and possibly by one or two of the highest carnivores — and its varied habits, all combine to give it an interest such as attaches to no other living creature below the rank of man. In line of descent and in physical formation it stands by itself, wholly apart from all the other great land beasts, and differing from them even more widely than they differ from one another. The two existing species — the African, which is the larger and finer animal, and the Asiatic — differ from one another as much as they do from the mammoth and similar extinct forms which were the con- temporaries of early man in Europe and North America. The carvings of our palaeolithic forefathers, etched on bone by cavern dwellers, from whom we are sundered by ages which stretch into an immemorial past, show that in their lives the hairy elephant of the north played the same part that his remote collateral descendant now plays in the lives of the savages who dwell under a vertical sun beside the tepid waters of the Nile and the Congo. In the first dawn of history, the sculptured records of the kings of Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh show the immense 284 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS importance which attached in the eyes of the mightiest monarchs of the then world to the chase and the trophies of this great strange beast. The ancient civiUzation of India boasts as one of its achievements the taming of the elephant; and in the ancient lore of that civilization the elephant plays a distinguished part. The elephant is unique among the beasts of great bulk in the fact that his growth in size has been accompanied by growth in brain power. With other beasts growth in bulk of body has not been accompanied by similar growth of mind. Indeed sometimes there seems to have been mental retrogression. The rhinoceros, in several different forms, is found in the same regions as the elephant, and in one of its forms it is in point of size second only to the elephant among terrestrial animals. Seemingly the ancestors of the two creatures, in that period, separated from us by un- counted hundreds of thousands of years, which we may con- veniently designate as late miocene or early pliocene, were substantially equal in brain development. But in one case increase in bulk seems to have induced lethargy and atrophy of brain power, while in the other case brain and body have both grown. At any rate the elephant is now one of the wisest and the rhinoceros one of the stupidest of big mam- mals. In consequence the elephant outlasts the rhino, although he is the largest, carries infinitely more valuable spoils, and is far more eagerly and persistently hunted. Both animals wandered freely over the open country of East Africa thirty years ago. But the elephant learns by ex- perience infinitely more readily than the rhinoceros. As a rule, the former no longer lives in the open plains, and in many places now even crosses them if possible only at night. But those rhinoceros which formerly dwelt in the plains for the most part continued to dwell there until killed out. So it is at the present day. Not the most foolish elephant would under similar conditions behave as the rhinos that we studied and hunted by Kilimakiu and in the Sotik behaved. No elephant, in regions where they have been much persecuted ELEPHANT HUNTING 28.5 by hunters, would habitually spend its days lying or standing in the open plain; nor would it, in such places, repeatedly, and in fact uniformly, permit men to walk boldly up to it without heeding them until in its immediate neighborhood. The elephant's sight is bad, as is that of the rhinoceros; but a comparatively brief experience with rifle-bearing man West side of Kenia's peak, taken at an altitude of 15,000 feet From a plwtograpli by J. A Idcti Loriiig usually makes the former take refuge in regions where scent and hearing count for more than sight; while no ex- perience has any such effect on the rhino. The rhinos that now live in the bush are the descendants of those which always lived in the bush; and it is in the bush that the species will linger long after it has vanished from the open; and it is in the bush that it is most formidable. Elephant and rhino differ as much in their habits as in their intelligence. The former is very gregarious, herds of 286 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS several hundred being sometimes found, and is of a rest- less, wandering temper, often shifting his abode and some- times making long migrations. The rhinoceros is a lover of solitude; it is usually found alone, or a bull and cow, or cow and calf may be in company; very rarely are as many as half a dozen found together. Moreover, it is compara- tively stationary in its habits, and as a general thing stays permanently in one neighborhood, not shifting its position for very many miles unless for grave reasons. The African elephant has recently been divided into a number of sub-species; but as within a century its range was continuous over nearly the whole continent south of the Sahara, and as it was given to such extensive occasional wanderings, it is probable that the examination of a suffi- cient series of specimens would show that on their confines these races grade into one another. In its essentials the beast is almost everywhere the same, although, of course, there must be variation of habits with any animal which exists throughout so wide and diversified a range of terri- tory; for in one place it is found in high mountains, in an- other in a dry desert,' in another in low-lying marshes or wet and dense forests. In East Africa the old bulls are usually found singly or in small parties by themselves. These have the biggest tusks; the bulls in the prime of life, the herd bulls or breed- ing bulls, which keep in herds with the cows and calves, usually have smaller ivory. Sometimes, however, very old but vigorous bulls are found with the cows; and I am inclined to think that the ordinary herd bulls at times also keep by themselves, or at least in company with only a few cows, for at certain seasons, generally immediately after the rains, cows, most of them with calves, appear in great numbers at certain places, where only a few bulls are ever found. Where undisturbed elephant rest, and wander about at all times of the day and night, and feed without much regard to fixed hours. Morning or evening, noon or midnight, the herd may be on the move, or its members ELEPHANT HUNTING 287 may be resting; yet, during the hottest hours of noon they seldom feed, and ordinarily stand almost still, resting — for elephant very rarely lie down unless sick. Where they are afraid of man, their only enemy, they come out to feed in thinly forested plains, or cultivated fields, when they do so at all, only at night, and before daybreak move back into the forest to rest. Elsewhere they sometimes spend the day in the open, in grass or low bush. Where we were, at this time, on Kenia, the elephants sometimes moved down at night to feed in the shambas, at the expense of the crops of the natives, and sometimes stayed in the forest, feeding by day or night on the branches they tore off the trees, or, occasionally, on the roots they grubbed up with their tusks. They work vast havoc among the young or small growth of a forest, and the readiness with which they uproot, overturn, or break off medium-sized trees conveys a striking impression of their enormous strength. I have seen a tree a foot in diameter thus uprooted and over- turned. The African elephant has never, like his Indian kins- man, been trained to man's use. There is still hope that the feat may be performed; but hitherto its probable eco- nomic usefulness has for various reasons seemed so ques- tionable that there has been scant encouragement to un- dergo the necessary expense and labor. Up to the present time the African elephant has yielded only his ivory as an asset of value. This, however, has been of such great value as wellnigh to bring about the mighty beast's utter extermi- nation. Ivory hunters and ivory traders have penetrated Africa to the haunts of the elephant since centuries before our era, and the elephant's boundaries have been slowly receding throughout historic time; but during the century just past its process has been immensely accelerated, until now there are but one or two out-of-the-way nooks of the Dark Continent to the neighborhood of which hunter and trader have not penetrated. Fortunately the civilized pow- ers which now divide dominion over Africa have waked 288 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS up in time, and there is at present no danger of the exter- mination of the lord of all four-footed creatures. Large reserves have been established on which various herds of elephants now live what is, at least for the time being, an entire- ly safe life. Fur- thermore, over great tracts of territory outside the reserves reg- ulations have been promul- gated which, if enforced as they are now en- forced, will pre- vent any exces- sive diminution of the herds. In British East Africa, for in- stance, no cows are allowed to be shot save for special pur- pose s, as for preservation in a museum, or to safeguard life and property; and no bulls with tusks weighing less than thirty pounds apiece. This renders safe almost all the females and an ample supply of breeding males. Too much praise cannot be given the governments and the individuals who have brought about Falls on slope of Kenia near first elephant camp From a photograph by Edmund Heller ELEPHANT HUNTING 280 this happy resuk; the credit belongs especially to England and to various Englishmen. It would be a veritable and most tragic calamity if the lordly elephant, the giant among existing four- footed creatures, should be permitted to vanish from the face of the earth. But of course pro- tection is not perma- nently possible over the greater part of that country which is well fitted for settlement ; nor anywhere, if the herds grow too numer- ous. It would be not merely silly, but worse than silly, to try to stop all killing of elephants. The unchecked increase of any big and formi- dable wild beast, even though not a flesh-eater, is incompatible with the existence of man when he has emerged from the stage of lowest sav- agery. This is not a matter of theory, but of proved fact. In place after place in Africa where protection has been ex- tended to hippopotamus or buffalo, rhinoceros or elephant, it has been found necessary to withdraw it because the pro- tected animals did such damage to property, or became such menaces to human life. Among all four species cows with calves often attack men without provocation, and old bulls are at any time likely to become infected by a spirit of wanton and ferocious mischief and apt to become man- 19 Elephant trail in bamboo From a photograph by J. Alden Loring 290 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS killers. I know settlers who tried to preserve the rhinoceros which they found living on their big farms, and who were obliged to abandon the attempt, and themselves to kill the rhinos because of repeated and wanton attacks on human beings by the latter. Where we were by Neri, a year or two before our visit, the rhinos had become so dangerous, killing one white man and several natives, that the district com- missioner who preceded Mr. Browne was forced to under- take a crusade against them, killing fifteen. Both in South Africa and on the Nile protection extended to hippopota- mus has in places been wholly withdrawn because of the damage done by the beasts to the crops of the natives, or because of their unprovoked assaults on canoes and boats. In one instance a last surviving hippo was protected for years, but finally grew bold because of immunity, killed a boy in sheer wantonness, and had to be himself slain. In Uganda the bufi^alo were for years protected, and grew so bold, killed so m.any natives, and ruined so many villages, that they are now classed as vermin and their destruction in every way encouraged. In the very neighborhood where I was hunting at Kenia, but six weeks before my coming, a cow buffalo had wandered down into the plains and run amuck, had attacked two villages, had killed a man and a boy, and had then been mobbed to death by the spear- men. Elephant, when in numbers, and when not possessed of the fear of man, are more impossible neighbors than hippo, rhino, or bufi^alo ; but they are so eagerly sought after by ivory hunters that it is only rarely that they get the chance to become really dangerous to life, although in many places their ravages among the crops are severely felt by the unfortunate natives who live near them. The chase of the elephant, if persistently followed, en- tails more fatigue and hardship than any other kind of African hunting. As regards risk, it is hard to say whether it is more or less dangerous than the chase of the lion and the buffalo. Both Cuninghame and Tarlton, men of wide experience, ranked elephant hunting, in point of danger, Camping after death of the first bull The porters exult over the death of the bull From photographs by Edmund Heller 292 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS as nearly on the level with lion hunting, and as more dan- gerous than buffalo hunting; and all three kinds as far more dangerous than the chase of the rhino. Personally, I believe the actual conflict with a lion, where the conditions are the same, to be normally the more dangerous sport; though far greater demands are made by elephant hunting on the qualities of personal endurance and hardihood and resolute perseverance in the face of disappointment and difiiculty. Buffalo, seemingly, do not charge as freely as elephant, but are more dangerous when they do charge. Rhino when hunted, though at times ugly customers, seem to me certainly less dangerous than the other three; but from sheer stupid truculence they are themselves apt to take the offensive in unexpected fashion, being far more prone to such aggression than are any of the others — man-eating lions always excepted. Very few of the native tribes in Africa hunt the elephant systematically. But the 'Ndorobo, the wild bush people of East Africa, sometimes catch young elephants in the pits they dig with slow labor, and very rarely they kill one with a kind of harpoon. The 'Ndorobo are doubtless in part de- scended from some primitive bush people, but in part also derive their blood from the more advanced tribes near which their wandering families happen to live; and they grade into the latter, by speech and through individuals who seem to stand half-way between. Thus we had with us two Masai 'Ndorobo, true wild people, who spoke a bastard Masai; who had formerly hunted with Cuninghame, and who came to us because of their ancient friendship with him. These shy woods creatures were afraid to come to Neri by day- light, when we were camped there, but after dark crept to Cuninghame's tent. Cuninghame gave them two fine red blankets, and put them to sleep in a little tent, keeping their spears in his own tent, as a measure of precaution to prevent their running away. The elder of the two, he informed me, would certainly have a fit of hysterics when we killed our elephant! Cuninghame was also joined by ELEPHANT HUNTING other old friends of former hunts, Kikuyu 'Ndorobo these, who spoke Kikuyu hke the people who cultivated the fields that covered the river-bottoms and hill-sides of the adjoin- ing open country, and who were, indeed, merely outlying, forest-dwelling members of the lowland tribes. In the deep woods we met one old Dorobo, who had no connection with any more advanced tribe, whose sole belongings were his spear, skin cloak, and fire stick, and who lived purely on honey and game; unlike the bastard 'Ndorobo, he was ornamented with neither paint nor grease. But the 'Ndo- robo who were our guides stood farther up in the social scale. The men passed most of their time in the forest, but up the mountain sides they had squalid huts on little clearings, with shambas, where their wives raised scanty crops. To the 'Ndorobo, and to them alone, the vast, thick forest was an open book; without their aid as guides both Cun- inghame and our own gun-bearers were at fault, and found their way around with great diflftculty and slowness. The bush people had nothing in the way of clothing save a blanket over the shoulders, but wore the usual paint and grease and ornaments; each carried a spear which might have a long and narrow, or short and broad blade; tvv^o of them wore head-dresses of tripe — skull-caps made from the inside of a sheep's stomach. For two days after reaching our camp in the open glade on the mountain side it rained. We were glad of this, because it meant that the elephants would not be in the bamboos, and Cuninghame and the 'Ndorobo went off to hunt for fresh signs. Cuninghame is as skilful an elephant The 'Ndorobo who had hys- terics on the elephant From a photograph by Edmund Hclkr 294 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS hunter as can be found in Africa, and is one of the very few white men able to help even the wild bushmen at their work. By the afternoon of the second day they were fairly well satisfied as to the whereabouts of the quarry. The following morning a fine rain was still falling when Cuninghame, Heller, and I started on our hunt; but by noon it had stopped. Of course we went in single file and on foot; not even a bear hunter from the cane-brakes of the lower Mississippi could ride through that forest. We left our home camp standing, taking blankets and a coat and change of underclothing for each of us, and two small Whymper tents, with enough food for three days; I also took my wash kit and a book from the Pigskin Library. First marched the 'Ndorobo guides, each with his spear, his blanket round his shoulders, and a little bundle of corn and sweet-potato. Then came Cuninghame, followed by his gun-bearer. Then I came, clad in khaki-colored flannel shirt and khaki trousers buttoning down the legs, with hobnailed shoes and a thick slouch hat; I had intended to wear rubber-soled shoes, but the soaked ground was too slippery. My two gun-bearers followed, carrying the Hol- land and the Springfield. Then came Heller, at the head of a dozen porters and skinners; he and they were to fall behind when we actually struck fresh elephant spoor, but to follow our trail by the help of a Dorobo who was left with them. For three hours our route lay along the edge of the woods. We climbed into and out of deep ravines in which groves of tree-ferns clustered. We waded through streams of swift water, whose course was broken by cataract and rapid. We passed through shambas, and by the doors of little hamlets of thatched beehive huts. We met flocks of goats and hairy, fat-tailed sheep guarded by boys; strings of burden-bearing women stood meekly to one side to let us pass; parties of young men sauntered by, spear in hand. Then we struck into the great forest, and in an instant the sun was shut from sight by the thick screen of wet ELEPHANT HUNTING 295 foliage. It was a riot of twisted vines, interlacing the trees and bushes. Only the elephant paths, which, of every age, crossed and recrossed it hither and thither, made it pas- sable. One of the chief difficulties in hunting elephants in the forest is that it is impossible to travel, except very slowly and with much noise, off these trails, so that it is some- times very difficult to take advantage of the wind; and although the sight of the elephant is dull, both its sense of hearing and its sense of smell are exceedingly acute. Hour after hour we worked our way onward through tangled forest and matted jungle. There was little sign of bird or animal life. A troop of long-haired black-and- white monkeys bounded away among the tree tops. Here and there brilliant flowers lightened the gloom. We ducked under vines and climbed over fallen timber. Poisonous nettles stung our hands. We were drenched by the wet boughs which we brushed aside. Mosses and ferns grew rank and close. The trees were of strange kinds. There were huge trees with little leaves, and small trees with big leaves. There were trees with bare, fleshy limbs, that writhed out through the neighboring branches, bearing sparse clusters of large frondage. In places the forest was low, the trees thirty or forty feet high, the bushes that choked the ground between, fifteen or twenty feet high. In other places mighty monarchs of the wood, straight and tall, towered aloft to an immense height; among them were trees whose smooth, round boles were spotted like syca- mores, while far above our heads their gracefully spreading branches were hung with vines like mistletoe and draped with Spanish moss; trees whose surfaces were corrugated and knotted as if they were made of bundles of great creepers; and giants whose buttressed trunks were four times a man's length across. Twice we got on elephant spoor, once of a single bull, once of a party of three. Then Cuninghame and the 'Ndorobo redoubled their caution. They would minutely examine the fresh dung; and above all they continually 296 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS tested the wind, scanning the tree tops, and Hghting matches to see from the smoke what the eddies were near the ground. Each time after an hour's steakhy stepping and crawhng along the twisted trail a shght shift of the wind in the almost still air gave our scent to the game, and away it went before we could catch a glimpse of it; and we resumed our walk. The elephant paths led up hill and down — for the beasts are wonderful climbers — and wound in and out in every direction. They w^re marked by broken branches and the splintered and shattered trunks of the smaller trees, especially where the elephant had stood and fed, trampling down the bushes for many yards around. Where they had crossed the marshy valleys they had punched big round holes, three feet deep, in the sticky mud. ■ As evening fell we pitched camp by the side of a little brook at the bottom of a ravine, and dined ravenously on bread, mutton, and tea. The air was keen, and under our blankets we slept in comfort until dawn. Breakfast was soon over and camp struck; and once more we began our cautious progress through the dim, cool archways of the moun- tain forest. Two hours after leaving camp we came across the fresh trail of a small herd of perhaps ten or fifteen elephant cows and calves, but including two big herd bulls. At once we took up the trail. Cuninghame and his bush people consulted again and again, scanning every track and mark with minute attention. The sign showed that the elephants had fed in the shambas early in the night, The chiet wlio acted as guide through shambas country near first elephant camp From a photograph by Edmund Heller ELEPHANT HUNTING 297 had then returned to the mountain, and stood in one place resting for several hours, and had left this sleeping ground some time before we reached it. After we had followed the trail a short while we made the experiment of trying to force our own way through the jungle, so as to get the wind more favorable; but our progress was too slow and noisy, and we returned to the path the elephants had beaten. Then the 'Ndorobo went ahead, travelling noiselessly and at speed. One of them was clad in a white blanket, and an- other in a red one, which were conspicuous; but they were too silent and cautious to let the beasts see them, and could tell exactly where they were and what they were doing by the sounds. When these trackers waited for us they would appear before us like ghosts; once one of them dropped down from the branches above, having climbed a tree with monkey-like agility to get a glimpse of the great game. At last we could hear the elephants, and under Cuning- hame's lead we walked more cautiously than ever. The wind was right, and the trail of one elephant led close along- side that of the rest of the herd, and parallel thereto. It was about noon. The elephants moved slowly, and we listened to the boughs crack, and now and then to the curious internal rumblings of the great beasts. Carefully, every sense on the alert, we kept pace with them. My double-barrel was in my hands, and wherever possible, as I followed the trail, I stepped in the huge footprints of the elephant, for where such a weight had pressed there were no sticks left to crack under my feet. It made our veins thrill thus for half an hour to creep stealthily along, but a few rods from the herd, never able to see it, because of the extreme, denseness of the cover, but always hearing first one and then another of its members, and always trying to guess what each one might do, and keeping ceaselessly ready for whatever might befall. A flock of hornbills flew up with noisy clamor, but the elephants did not heed them. 298 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS At last we came in sight of the mighty game. The trail took a twist to one side, and there, thirty yards in front of us, we made out part of the gray and massive head of an elephant resting his tusks on the branches of a young tree. A couple of minutes passed before, by cautious scrutiny, we were able to tell whether the animal was a cow or a bull, and whether, if a bull, it carried heavy enough tusks. Then we saw that it was a big bull with good ivory. It turned its head in my direction and I saw its eye; and I fired a little to one side of the eye, at a spot which I thought would lead to the brain. I struck exactly where I aimed, but the head of an elephant is enormous and the brain small, and the bullet missed it. However, the shock momentarily stunned the beast. He stumbled forward, half falling, and as he recovered I fired with the second barrel, again aiming for the brain. This time the bullet sped true, and as 1 lowered the rifle from my shoulder, I saw the great lord of the forest come crashing to the ground. But at that very instant, before there was a moment's time in which to reload, the thick bushes parted immedi- ately on my left front, and through them surged the vast bulk of a charging bull elephant, the matted mass of tough creepers snapping like packthread before his rush. He was so close that he could have touched me with his trunk. I leaped to one side and dodged behind a tree trunk, opening the rifle, throwing out the empty shells, and slipping in two cartridges. Meanwhile Cuninghame fired right and left, at the same time throwing himself into the bushes on the other side. Both his bullets went home, and the bull stopped short in his charge, wheeled, and immediately disappeared in the thick cover. We ran forward, but the forest had closed over his wake. We heard him trumpet shrilly, and then all sounds ceased. The 'Ndorobo, who had quite properly disappeared when this second bull charged, now went forward and soon returned with the report that he had fled at speed, but was evidently hard hit, as there was much blood on the spoor. ELEPHANT HUNTING 299 If we had been only after ivory we should have followed him at once; but there was no telling how long a chase he might lead us; and as we desired to save the skin of the dead elephant entire, there was no time whatever to spare. It is a formidable task, occupying many days, to preserve an elephant for mounting in a mu- seum, and if the skin is to be properly saved, it must be taken oif with- out an hour's unneces- sary delay. So back we turned to where the dead tusker lay, and I felt proud indeed as I stood by the immense bulk of the slain monster and put my hand on the ivory. The tusks weighed a hundred and thirty pounds the pair. There was the usual scene of joyful excite- ment among the gun- bearers — who had be- haved excellently — and among the wild bush people who had done the tracking for us; and, as Cuninghame had predicted, the old Masai Dorobo, from pure delight, proceeded to have hysterics on the body of the dead elephant. The scene was repeated when Heller and the porters appeared half an hour later. Then, chattering like monkeys, and as happy as possible, all, porters, gun-bearers, and 'Ndorobo alike, began the work of skinning and cutting up the Tree-ferns on slopes of Kenia near first elephant camp From a photograph by Edmund Heller ;}()() AFRICAN GAME TRAILS (luarry, under the leadership and supervision of Heller and Cuninghame, and soon they were all splashed with blood from head to foot. One of the trackers took off his blanket and squatted stark naked inside the car- cass the better to use his knife. Each laborer rewarded himself by J I cutting off strips of meat for his pri- vate store, and hung them in red festoons from the branches round ^|. . about. There was no let up in the ]^L\ work until it was stopped by darkness. Our tents were pitched in a small open glade a hundred yards from the dead elephant. The night was clear, the stars shone brightly, and in the west the young moon hung just above the line of tall tree tops. Fires were speedily kindled and the men sat around them, feast- ing and singing in a strange minor tone until late in the night. The flickering light left them at one moment in black obscurity, and the next brought into bold re- lief their sinewy crouching figures, their dark faces, gleaming eyes, and flashing teeth. When they did sleep, two of the 'Ndorobo slept so close to the fire as to burn themselves; an accident to which they are prone, judging from the many scars of old burns on their legs. I toasted slices of elephant's heart on a pronged stick before the fire, and found it delicious; for I was hungry, and the night was cold. We talked of our success and exulted over it, and made our plans for the morrow; and then we turned in under our blankets for another night's sleep. Sulimaii Na Meru, one of lliu cU-[)lKmi follicles From a photograph by Kcrmil Kooseicll ELEPIIAN'J ilLNTING .{01 Next morning some of the 'Ndorobo went off on the trail of Cuninghame's elephant to see if it had fallen, but found that it had travelled steadily, though its wounds were probably mortal. There was no objec t in my staying, for Heller and Cuninghame would be busy for the next ten days, and would ultimately have to use all the porters in taking off and curing the skin, and transporting it to Neri; so I made up my mind to go down to the plains for a hunt by myself, taking one porter to carry my bedding, and with my gun-bearers, and a Dorobo as guide, I struck off through the forest for the main camp, reaching it early in the afternoon. Thence I bundled off a safari to Cuning- hame and Heller, with food for a week, and tents and clothing; and then enjoyed the luxury of a shave and a warm bath. Next day was spent in writing and making prepara- tions for my own trip. A Kikuyu chief, clad in a cloak of hyrax skins, and carrying his war spear, came to congratu- late me on killing the elephant and to present me with a sheep. Early the following morning everything was in read- iness; the bull-necked porters lifted their loads, I stepped out in front, foUowed by my led horse, and in ten hours' march we reached Neri boma, with its neat buildings, its trees, and its well-kept flower beds. My hunting and travelling during the following fort- night will be told in the next chapter. On the evening of September 6th we were all together again at Meru boma, on the north-eastern slopes of Kenia — Kermit, Tarl- ton, Cuninghame, Heller, and I. Thanks to the unfailing kindness of the commissioner, Mr. Home, we were given full information of the elephant in the neighborhood. He had no 'Ndorobo, but among the Wa-Meru, a wild mar- tial tribe, who lived close around him, there were a num- ber of hunters, or at least of men who knew the forest and the game, and these had been instructed to bring in any news. We had, of course, no idea that elephant would be found close at hand. But next morning, about eleven, 302 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS Home came to our camp with four of his black scouts, who reported that three elephants were in a patch of thick jungle beside the shambas, not three miles away. Home said that the elephants were cows^ that they had been in the neighborhood some days, devastating the shambas, and were bold and fierce, having charged some men who sought to drive them away from the cultivated fields; it is curious to see how little heed these elephants pay to the natives. I wished a cow for the museum, and also another bull. So off we started at once, Kermit carrying his camera. I slipped on my rubber-soled shoes, and had my gun- bearers accompany me barefooted, with the Holland and the Springfield rifles. We followed foot-paths among the fields until we reached the edge of the jungle in which the elephants stood. This jungle lay beside the forest, and at this point separated it from the fields. It consisted of a mass of rank- growing bushes, allied to the cotton-plant, ten or twelve feet high, with only here and there a tree. It was not good ground in which to hunt elephant, for the tangle was prac- tically impenetrable to a hunter save along the elephant trails, whereas the elephants themselves could move in any direction at will, with no more difficulty than a man would have in a hay-field. The bushes in most places rose just above their backs, so that they were completely hid from the hunter even a few feet away. Yet the cover afforded no shade to the mighty beasts, and it seemed strange that elephants should stand in it at mid-day with the sun out. There they were, however, for, looking cau- tiously into the cover from behind the bushes on a slight hill-crest quarter of a mile off, we could just make out a huge ear now and then as it lazily flapped. On account of the wind we had to go well to one side before entering the jungle. Then in we went in single file, Cuninghame and Tarlton leading, with a couple of our naked guides. The latter showed no great desire to get too close, explaining that the elephants were *'very fierce.'* ELEPHANT HUNTING 303 Once in the jungle, we trod as quietly as possible, thread- ing our way along the elephant trails, which crossed and recrossed one another. Evidently it was a favorite haunt, for the sign was abundant, both old and new. In the im- penetrable cover it was quite impossible to tell just where the elephants were, and twice we sent one of the savages up Ht '\tiv^ ' iS^BHtSi^^^^^^l ^\ r p *' m '■'- •^^^*^— /.; .. '- ■-, . ■■■*:;. ' ^ -. .-^■. .. .^,^- Trunk of giant fig-tree in Kenia forest From a photograph by Edmund Heller a tree to locate the game. The last time the watcher, who stayed in the tree, indicated by signs that the elephant were not far off; and his companions wished to lead us round to where the cover was a little lower and thinner. But to do so would have given them our wind, and Cuninghame refused, taking into his own hands the management of the stalk. I kept my heavy rifle at the ready, and on we went, in watchful silence, prepared at any moment for a charge. We could not tell at what second we might catch our first glimpse at very close quarters of "the beast that hath between his eyes the serpent for a hand," and when thus surprised the temper of "the huge earth-shaking beast" is sometimes of the shortest. 304 AFRICAN. . GAME TRAILS Cuninghame and Tarlton stopped for a moment to consult; Gunlnghame stooped, and Tarlton mounted his shoulders and stood upright, steadying himself by my hand. Down he came and told us that he had seen a small tree shake seventy yards distant; although upright on Cuninghame's shoulders he could not see the elephant it- self. Forward we stole for a few yards, and then a piece of good luck befell us, for we came on the trunk of a great fallen tree, and scrambling up, we found ourselves perched in a row six feet above the ground. The highest part of the trunk was near the root, farthest from where the ele- phants were; and though it offered precarious footing, it also offered the best lookout. Thither I balanced, and looking over the heads of my companions I at once made out the elephant. At first I could see nothing but the shaking branches, and one huge ear occasionally flapping. Then I made out the ear of another beast, and then the trunk of a third was uncurled, lifted, and curled again; it showered its back with earth. The watcher we had left behind in the tree top coughed; the elephants stood mo- tionless, and up went the biggest elephant's trunk, feeling for the wind; the watcher coughed again, and then the bushes and saplings swayed and parted as three black bulks came toward us. The cover was so high that we could not see their tusks, only the tops of their heads and their backs being visible. The leader was the biggest, and at it I fired when it was sixty yards away, and nearly broadside on, but heading slightly toward me. I had previously warned every one to kneel. The recoil of the heavy rifle made me rock, as I stood unsteadily on my perch, and I failed to hit the brain. But the bullet, only missing the brain by an inch or two, brought the elephant to its knees; as it rose I floored it with the second barrel. The blast of the big rifle, by the way, was none too pleasant for the other men on the log and made Cuninghame's nose bleed. Re- loading, I fired twice at the next animal, which was now turning. It stumbled and nearly fell, but at the same Tlie chari^ing bull elephant " He could have touched me with his trunk " Drawn by Philip R. Goodwin from photographs and from descriptions jurnished by Mr. Roosevelt 20 ELEPHANT HUNTING 307 moment the first one rose again, and I fired both barrels into its head, bringing it once more to the ground. Once again it rose — an elephant's brain is not an easy mark to hit under such conditions — but as it moved slowly off, half stunned, I snatched the little Springfield rifle, and this time shot true, sending the bullet into its brain. As it fell I took another shot at the wounded elephant, now dis- appearing in the forest, but without effect. On walking up to our prize it proved to be not a cow, but a good-sized adult (but not old) herd bull, with thick, short tusks, weighing about forty pounds apiece. Ordi- narily, of course, a bull, and not a cow, is what one desires, although on this occasion I needed a cow to complete the group for the National Museum. However, Heller and Cuninghame spent the next few days in preserving the skin, which I afterward gave to the University of California; and I was too much pleased with our luck to feel inclined to grumble. We were back in camp five hours after leaving it. Our gun-bearers usually felt it incumbent on them to keep a dignified bearing while in our company. But the death of an elephant is always a great event; and one of the gun-bearers, as they walked ahead of us campward, soon began to improvise a song, reciting the success of the hunt, the death of the elephant, and the power of the rifles; and gradually, as they got farther ahead, the more light-hearted among them began to give way to their spirits and they came into camp frolicking, gambol- ling, and dancing as if they were still the naked savages that they had been before they became the white man's followers. Two days later Kermit got his bull. He and Tarlton had camped about ten miles cff in a magnificent forest, and late the first afternoon received news that a herd of ele- phants was in the neighborhood. They were off by dawn, and in a few hours came on the herd. It consisted chiefly of cows and calves, but there was one big master bull, with fair tusks. It was open forest with long grass. By careful 308 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS stalking they got within thirty yards of the bull, behind whom was a line of cows. Kermit put both barrels of his heavy double .450 into the tusker's head, but without even staggering him; and as he walked off Tarlton also fired both barrels into him, with no more effect; then, as he slowly turned, Kermit killed him with a shot in the brain from the .405 Winchester. Immediately the cows lifted their ears, and began trumpeting and threatening; if they had come on in a body at that distance, there was not much chance of turning them or of escaping from them: and after standing stock still for a minute or two, Kermit and Tarlton stole quietly off for a hundred yards, and waited until the anger of the cows cooled and they had moved away, before going up to the dead bull. Then they followed the herd again, and Kermit got some photos which, as far as I know, are better than any that have ever before been taken of wild elephant. He took them close up, at imminent risk of a charge. The following day the two hunters rode back to Meru, making a long circle. - The elephants they saw were not worth shooting, but they killed the finest rhinoceros we had yet seen. They saw it in an open space of tall grass, sur- rounded by lantana brush, a flowering shrub with close- growing stems, perhaps twenty feet high and no thicker than a man's thumb; it forms a favorite cover for elephants and rhinoceros, and is wellnigh impenetrable to hunters. Fortunately this particular rhino was outside it, and Ker- mit and Tarlton got up to about twenty-five yards from him. Kermit then put one bullet behind his shoulder, and as he whipped round to charge, another bullet on the point of his shoulder; although mortally wounded, he showed no signs whatever of being hurt, and came at the hunters with great speed and savage desire to do harm. Then an extraordinary thing happened. Tarlton fired, inflicting merely a flesh wound in one shoulder, and the big, fearsome brute, which had utterly disregarded the two fatal shots, on receiving this flesh wound, wheeled and ran. rt ;^ G V ^ <\> t< d ^:^ r- -^ ELEPHANT HUNTING 311 Both firing, they killed him before he had gone many yards. He was a bull, with a thirty-inch horn. By this time Cuninghame and Heller had finished the skin and skeleton of the bull they were preserving. Near the carcass Heller trapped an old male leopard, a savage beast; its skin was in fine shape, but it was not fat, and weighed just one hundred pounds. Now we all joined, and shifted camp to a point eight or nine miles distant from Meru boma, and fifteen hundred feet lower among the foot-hills. It was much hotter at this lower level; palms were among the trees that bordered the streams. On the day we shifted camp Tarlton and I rode in advance to look for elephants, followed by our gun-bearers and half a dozen wild Meru hunters, each carrying a spear or a bow and arrows. When v>^e reached the hunting grounds, open country with groves of trees and patches of jungle, the Meru went off in every direction to find elephant. We waited their return under a tree, by a big stretch of culti- vated ground. The region was well peopled, and all the way down the path had led between fields, which the Meru women were tilling with their adze-like hoes, and banana plantations, where among the bananas other trees had been planted, and the yam vines trained up their trunks. These cool, shady banana plantations, fenced in with tall hedges and bordered by rapid brooks, were really very attractive. Among them were scattered villages of conical thatched huts, and level places plastered with cow dung on which the grain was threshed; it was then stored in huts raised on posts. There were herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep and goats; and among the burdens the women bore wc often saw huge bottles of milk. In the shambas there were platforms, and sometimes regular thatched huts, placed in the trees; these were for the watchers, who were to keep the elephants out of the shambas at night. Some of the natives wore girdles of banana leaves, looking, as Kermit said, much like the pictures of savages in Sun- day-school books. 81^2 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS ^ ^_ /x /"^- ^- Mr. Roosevelt's description of one of the elephant pictures — written on the back of it Early in the afternoon some of the scouts returned with news that three bull elephants were in a piece of for- est a couple of miles distant, and thither we went. It was an open grove of heavy thorn timber beside a strip of swamp; among the trees the grass grew tall, and there were many thickets of arbutilon, a flowering shrub a dozen feet high. On this the elephant were feeding. Tarlton's favorite sport was lion hunting, but he was also a first- class elephant hunter, and he brought me up to these bulls in fine style. Although only three hundred yards away, it took us two hours to get close to them. Tarlton and the "shenzis" — wild natives, called in Swahili (a kind of African chinook) "wa-shenzi" — who were with us, climbed tree after tree, first to place the elephants, and then to see if they carried ivory heavy enough to warrant my shooting them. At last Tarlton brought me to within fifty yards I <(, V The herd getting; uneasy From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt The same herd on the eve of charging Immediately after taking this picture. Kermit had to quietly make his escape, slipping off among the trees to avoid the charge; he did not wish to shoot any of the herd if it could be avoided From a photograph, copyright, by Kermit Roosevelt 316 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS of them. Two were feeding in bush which hid them from view, and the third stood between, facing us. We could only see the top of his head and back, and not his tusks, and could not tell whether he was worth shooting. Much puz- zled we stood where we were, peering anxiously at the huge half-hidden game. Suddenly there was a slight eddy in the wind, up went the elephant's trunk, twisting to and fro in the air; evidently he could not catch a clear scent; but in another moment we saw the three great dark forms moving gently off through the bush. As rapidly as possi- ble, following the trails already tramped by the elephants, we walked forward, and after a hundred yards Tarlton pointed to a big bull with good tusks standing motionless behind some small trees seventy yards distant. As I aimed at his head he started to move off; the first bullet from the heavy Holland brought him to his knees, and as he rose I knocked him flat with the second. He struggled to rise; but, both firing, we kept him down; and I finished him with a bullet in the brain from the little Springfield. Al- though rather younger than either of the bulls I had already shot, it was even larger. In its stomach were beans from the shambas, abutilon tips, and bark, and especially the twigs, leaves, and white blossoms of a smaller shrub. The tusks weighed a little over a hundred pounds the pair. We still needed a cow for the museum; and a couple of days later, at noon, a party of natives brought in word that they had seen two cows in a spot five miles away. Piloted by a naked spearman, whose hair was done into a cue, we rode toward the place. For most of the distance we followed old elephant trails, in some places mere tracks beaten down through stiff grass which stood above the head of a man on horseback, in other places paths rutted deep into the earth. We crossed a river, where monkeys chattered among the tree tops. On an open plain we saw a rhinoceros cow trotting off with her calf. At last we came to a hill-top with, on the summit, a noble fig-tree, whose giant limbs were stretched over the palms that clustered ELEPHANT HUNTING 317 beneath. Here we left our horses and went forward on foot, crossing a palm-fringed stream in a little valley. From the next rise we saw the backs of the elephants as they stood in a slight valley, where the rank grass grew ten or twelve feet high. It was some time before we could see the ivory so as to be sure of exactly what we were shooting. Then the biggest cow began to move slowly forward, and we walked nearly parallel to her, along an elephant trail, until from a slight knoll I got a clear view of her at a dis- tance of eighty yards. As she walked leisurely along, almost broadside to me, I fired the right barrel of the Holland into her head, knocking her flat down with the shock; and when she rose I put a bullet from the left barrel through her heart, again knocking her completely off her feet; and this time she fell permanently. She was a very old cow, and her ivory was rather better than in the average of her sex in this neighborhood, the tusks weighing about eighteen pounds apiece. She had been ravaging the sham- bas overnight — which accounted in part for the natives being so eager to show her to me — and in addition to leaves and grass, her stomach contained quantities of beans. There was a young one — just out of calfhood, and quite able to take care of itself — with her; it ran ofl^ as soon as the mother fell. Early next morning Cuninghame and Heller shifted part of the safari to the stream near where the dead ele- phant lay, intending to spend the following three days in taking off and preparing the skin. Meanwhile Tarlton, Kermit, and I were to try our luck in a short hunt on the other side of Meru boma, at a little crater lake called Lake Ingouga. We could not get an early start, and reached Meru too late to push on to the lake the same day. The following morning we marched to the lake in two hours and a half. We spent an hour in crossing a broad tongue of woodland that stretched down from the wonder- ful mountain forest lying higher on the slopes. The trail was blind in many places because elephant paths of every 318 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS age continually led along and across it, some of them be- ing much better marked than the trail itself, as it twisted through the sun-flecked shadows underneath the great trees. Then we came out on high downs, covered with tall grass and littered with volcanic stones; and broken by ravines which were choked with dense underbrush. There were high hills, and to the left of the downs, toward Kenia, these were clad in forest. We pitched our tents on a steep cliff overlooking the crater lake — or pond, as it might more properly be called. It was bordered with sedge, and through the water-lilies on its surface we saw the reflection of the new moon after nightfall. Here and there thick forest came down to the brink, and through this, on opposite sides of the pond, deeply worn elephant paths, evidently travelled for ages, wound down to the water. That evening we hunted for bushbuck, but saw none. While sitting on a hillock at dusk, watching for game, a rhino trotted up to inspect us, with ears cocked forward and tail erect. A rhino always has something comic about it, like a pig, formidable though it at times is. This one carried a poor horn, and therefore we were pleased when at last it trotted off without obliging us to shoot it. We saw new kinds of whydah birds, one with a yellow breast, one with white in its tail; at this altitude the cocks were still in full plumage, although it was just past the middle of September; whereas at Naivasha they had begun to lose their long tail feathers nearly two months previously. On returning to camp we received a note from Cuning- hame saying that Heller had been taken seriously sick, and Tarlton had to go to them. This left Kermit and me to take our two days' hunt together. One day we got nothing. We saw game on the open downs, but it was too wary, and though we got within twenty- five yards of eland in thick cover, we could only make out a cow, and she took fright and ran without our ever getting a glimpse of the bull that was with her. Late in the after- noon we saw an elephant a mile and a half away, crossing ELEPHANT HUNTING 319 a corner of the open downs. We followed Its trail until the light grew too dim for shooting, but never overtook it, although at the last we could hear it ahead of us breaking the branches; and we made our way back to camp through the darkness. The other day made amends. It was Kermit's turn to shoot an elephant, and mine to shoot a rhinoceros; and each of us was to act as the backing gun for the other. In the forenoon, we saw a bull rhino with a good horn walking over the open downs. A convenient hill enabled us to cut him off with- out difficulty, and from its summit we killed him at the base, fifty or six- ty yards off. His front horn was nearly twenty-nine inches long; but though he was an old bull, his total length, from tip of nose to tip of tail, was only twelve feet, and he was, I should guess, not more than two-thirds the bulk of the big bull I killed in the Sotik. A watch-tower in Meru shambas From a photograph by Edmund Heller 320 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS We rested for an hour or two at noon, under the shade of a very old tree with glossy leaves, and orchids growing on its gnarled, hoary limbs, while the unsaddled horses grazed, and the gun-bearers slept near by, the cool moun- Mr. Roosevelt's and Kermit's camp near which they got the rhino and elephant From a photograph hy Kermit Roosevelt tain air, although this was mid-day under the equator, making them prefer the sunlight to the shade. When we moved on it was through a sea of bush ten or fifteen feet high, dotted here and there with trees; and riddled in every direction by the trails of elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo. Each of these animals frequents certain kinds of country to which the other two rarely or never penetrate; but here they all three found ground to their liking. Except along their winding trails, which were tunnels where the jungle was ELEPHANT HUNTING 321 tall, it would have been practically impossible to traverse the thick and matted cover in which they had made their abode. We could not tell what moment we might find ourselves face to face with some big beast at such close quarters A c«w elephant From a photograph by R. J. Cuninghatne as to insure a charge, and we moved in cautious silence, our rifles in our hands. Rhinoceros were especially plenti- ful, and we continually came across not only their tracks, but the dusty wallows in which they rolled, and where they came to deposit their dung. The fresh sign of elephant, 21 S22 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS however, distracted our attention from the lesser game, and we followed the big footprints eagerly, now losing the trail, now finding it again. At last near a clump of big trees we caught sight of three huge, dark bodies ahead of us. The wind was right, and we stole toward them, Kermit leading, and I immediately behind. Through the tangled branches their shapes loomed in vague outline; but v/e saw that one had a pair of long tusks, and our gun-bearers unanimously pronounced it a big bull, with good ivory. A few more steps gave Kermit a chance at its head, at about sixty yards, and with a bullet from his .405 Winchester he floored the mighty beast. It rose, and we both fired in unison, bringing it down again; but as we came up it struggled to get on its feet, roaring savagely, and once more we both fired together. This finished it. We were dis- appointed at finding that it was not a bull; but it was a large cow, with tusks over five feet long — a very unusual length for a cow — one weighing twenty-five, and the other twenty-two pounds. Our experience had convinced us that both the Win- chester .405, and the Springfield .300 would do good work with elephants; although I kept to my belief that, for such very heavy game, my Holland .500-.450 was an even better weapon. Not far from where this elephant fell Tarlton had, the year before, witnessed an interesting incident. He was watching a sm.all herd of elephants, cows and calves, which were in the open, when he saw them begin to grow uneasy. Then, with a shrill trumpet, a cow approached a bush, out of which bounded a big lion. Instantly all the cows charged him, and he fled as fast as his legs would carry him for the forest, two hundred yards distant. He just managed to reach the cover in safety; and then the infuriated cows, in their anger at his escape, demolished the forest for several rods in every direction. CHAPTER XI THE GUASO NYERO; A RIVER OF THE EQUATORIAL DESERT When I reached Neri, after coming down from killing my first elephant on Kenia, I was kept waiting two or three days before I could gather enough Kikuyu porters. As I could hot speak a word of their language I got a couple of young Scotch settlers^ very good fellows, to take charge of the safari out to where I intended to hunt. There was a party of the King's African Rifles camped at Neri; the powerful-looking enlisted men were from the south, chiefly from one of the northernmost tribes of Zulu blood, and their two officers were of the best Kipling-soldier type. Then there was another safari, that of Messrs. Kearton and Clark who were taking some really extraordinary photographs of birds and game. Finally, Governor and Mrs. Jackson arrived from a trip they had been making round Kenia; and I was much pleased to be able to tell the Governor, who had helped me in every way, about my bull elephant, and to discuss with him some of the birds we had seen and the mammals we had trapped. A great ingowa, a war-dance of the natives, was held in his honor, and the sight was, as always, one of interest and of a certain fascination. There was an Indian trader at Neri from whom we had obtained donkeys to carry to our elephant camp "posho," or food for the porters. He announced that they were all in readiness in a letter to Cuninghame, which was meant to be entirely respectful, but which sounded odd, as it was couched in characteristic Baboo English. The opening lines ran: **Dear K-ham, .the donkeys are altogether deadly." 323 324 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS At last fifty Kikuyus assembled — they are not able to carry the loads of regular Swahili porters — and I started that moment, though it was too late in the VP afternoon to travel more than three or four I miles. The Kikuyus were real savages, naked I save for a dingy blanket, usually carried round the neck. They formed a picturesque safari; but it was difficult to make the grass- hopper-like creatures take even as much thought for the future as the ordinary happy- go-lucky porters take. At night if it rained they cow- ered under the bushes in drenched and shivering dis- comfort; and yet they had to be driven to make bough shelters for themselves. Once these shelters were up, and a little fire kindled at the en- trance of each, the moping, spiritless wretches would speedily become transformed into beings who had lost all re- membrance of ever having been wet or cold. After their posho had been distributed and eaten they would sit, huddled and cheerful, in their shelters, and sing steadily for a couple of hours. Their songs were much wilder than those of the regular porters, and were often warlike. Occasionally, some ''shanty man," as he would be called on shipboard, improvised or repeated a kind of story in short sentences or strophes; but the main feature of each Kikuyu warrior From a photograph by Edmund Heller THE GUASO NYERO 325 song was the endless repetition of some refrain, musically chanted in chorus by the whole party. This repetition of a short sentence or refrain is a characteristic of many kinds of savage music ; I have seen the Pawnees grow almost maddened by their triumph song, or victory song, which consisted of nothing whatever but the fierce, bark- ing, wolf-like repetition of the words, " In the morning the wolves feasted." Our first afternoon's march was uneventful; but I was amused at one of our porters and the "safari" ants. These safari ants are so called by the natives because they go on foraging expeditions in immense numbers. The big- headed warriors are able to inflict a really painful bite. In open spaces, as where crossing a path, the column makes a little sunken way through which it streams uninterruptedly. Whenever we came to such a safari ant column, in its sunken way, crossing our path, the porter in question laid two twigs on the ground as a peace-offering to the ants. He said that they were on safari, just as we were, and that it was wise to propitiate them. That evening we camped in a glade in the forest. At nightfall dozens of the big black-and-white hornbill, croak- ing harshly, flew overhead, their bills giving them a curi- ously top-heavy look. They roosted in the trees near by. Next day we came out on the plains, where there was no cultivation, and instead of the straggling thatch and wattle, unfenced villages of the soil-tilling Kikuyus, we found our- selves again among the purely pastoral Masai, whose tem- porary villages are arranged in a ring or oval, the cattle being each night herded in the middle, and the mud-daubed, cow-dung-plastered houses so placed that their backs form a nearly continuous circular wall, the spaces between being choked with thorn-bushes. I killed a steinbuck, missed a tommy, and at three hundred yards hit a Jackson's harte- beest too far back, and failed in an effort to ride it down. The day after we were out on plains untenanted by hu- man beings, and early in the afternoon struck water by 326 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS which to pitch our tents. There was not much game, and it was shy; but I thought that I could kill enough to keep the camp in meat so I sent back the two Scotchmen and their Kikuyus, after having them build a thorn boma, or fence, round the camp. One of the reasons why the Masai had driven their herds and flocks off this plain was be- cause a couple of lions had turned man-eaters, and had killed a number of men and women. We saw no sign of lions, and believed they had followed the Masai; but there was no use in taking needless chances. The camp was beside a cold, rapid stream, one of the head-waters of the Guaso Nyero. It was heavily fringed with thorn timber. To the east the crags and snow- fields of Kenia rose from the slow swell of the mountain's base. It should have been the dry season, but there were continual heavy rains, which often turned into torrential downpours. In the overcast mornings as I rode away from camp, it was as cool as if I were riding through the fall weather at home; at noon, if the sun came out, straight overhead, the heat was blazing; and we generally returned to camp at nightfall, drenched with the cold rain. The first heavy storm, the evening we pitched camp, much ex- cited all my followers. Ali came rushing into the tent to tell me that there was "a big snake up high." This cer- tainly seemed worth investigating^ and I followed him out- side where everybody was looking at the "snake," which proved to be a huge, funnel-shaped, whirling cloud, career- ing across the darkened sky. It was a kind of waterspout or cyclone; fortunately it passed to one side of camp. The first day I hunted I shot only a steinbuck for the table. The country alternated between bare plains and great stretches of sparse, stunted thorns. We saw zebra, and two or three bands of oryx; big, handsome antelope strongly built and boldly colored, with long, black, rapier- like horns. They were very wary, much more so than the zebra with which they associated, and we could not get anvwhere near them. THE GUASO NYERO 327 Next day I hunted along the edges of a big swamp. We saw waterbuck, but were unable to get within shot. However, near the farther end of the swamp, in an open swale, we found four eland feeding. The eland is the king of antelope; and not only did I desire meat for camp, but I wished the head of a good bull as a trophy for myself, the eland I had hitherto shot being for the National Mu- seum. The lit- tle band in- cluded a big bull, a small bull, and two cows; at a dis- tance the big bull looked slaty blue. The great, sleek, handsome crea- tures were feed- ing in the long grass just like cattle, switching their long tails at the flies. The country looked like a park, with clumps of thorn-trees scattered over the grassy sward. Carefully I crept on all-fours from tree clump to tree clump, trying always to move when the elands' heads were down grazing. At last I was within three hundred yards, when one of the cows caught a glimpse of me and alarmed the others. They were startled, but puzzled, and after trotting a few rods turned to stare at the half-seen object of their alarm. Rising to my knee I shot the big bull in the throat as with head erect he gazed in my direction. Off he went with a rush, the others bounding and leaping as they accom- panied him, and we followed on the blood spoor. Bakhari and Gouvimali trotted fast on the trail, and in order to be Two Kikuyu boys From a photograph by Edmund Heller 328 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS fresh for the shot I mounted Tranquillity. Suddenly out bounced the wounded bull from some bushes close by, and the horse nearly had a fit; I could hardly get off in From a photograph Ly Theodore Ruoie'^elt /f''^^ ?./^, in spite of its great size, its finely moulded tiful coat gave it a thoroughly game look. Oryx were now what I especially wished all of the following day to their pursuit. We time to empty my magazine at long range — fortunately with effect. It was a magnificent bull of the variety called Patter- son's eland, with a fine head. Few prize oxen would be as heavy, and limbs and beau- , and we devoted saw three bands, THE GUASO NYERO 329 two of them accompanying herds of zebra, after the man- ner of kongoni. Both species were found indifferently on the bare, short-grass flats and among the thin, stunted thorn-trees which covered much of the plains. After a careful stalk, the latter part on all-fours, I got to within about three hundred yards of a mixed herd, and put a bullet into one oryx as it faced me, and hit another as it ran. The first, from its position, I thought I would surely kill if I hit it at all, and both of the wounded beasts were well behind the herd when it halted a mile away on the other side of the plain. But as we approached they all went off together, and I can only hope the two I hit recovered; at any rate, after we had followed them for miles, the tough beasts were still running as strongly as ever. All the morning I manoeuvred and tramped hard, in vain. At noon, I tried a stalk on a little band of six, who were standing still, idly switching their tails, out in a big flat. They saw me, and at four hundred yards I missed the shot. By this time I felt rather desperate, and decided for once to abandon legitimate proceedings and act on the Ciceronian theory, that he who throws the javelin all day must hit the mark some time. Accordingly I emptied the magazines of both my rifles at the oryx, as they ran across my front, and broke the neck of a fine cow, at four hundred and fifty yards. Six or seven hundred yards off the sur- vivors stopped, and the biggest bull, evidently much put out, uttered loud bawling grunts and drove the others round with his horns. Meanwhile I was admiring the handsome dun gray coat of my prize, its long tail and long, sharp, slender horns, and the bold black and white mark- ings on its face. Hardly had we skinned the carcass before the vultures lit on it; with them were two marabou storks, one of which I shot with a hard bullet from the Springfield. The oryx, like the roan and sable, and in striking con- trast to the eland, is a bold and hard fighter, and when cornered will charge a man or endeavor to stab a lion. If wounded it must be approached with a certain amount of 330 .\FRICAN GAME TRAILS caution. The eland, on the other hand, in spite of its huge size, is singularly mild and inoffensive, an old bull being as inferior to an oryx in the will and power to fight as it is in speed and endurance. "Antelope," as I have said, is a very loose term, meaning simply any hollow-horned ruminant that isn't an ox, a sheep, or a goat. The eland is one of the group of tragelaphs, which are as different from the true antelopes, such as the gazelles, as they are from the oxen. One of its kinsfolk is the handsome little bushbuck, about as big as a white-tail deer; a buck of which Kermit had killed two speci- mens. The bushbuck is a wicked fighter, no other buck of its size be- ing as dangerous; which makes the helplessness and timidity of its huge relative all the more striking. I had kept four Ki- kuyus with me to ac- company me on my hunts and carry in the skins and meat. They were with me on this occasion ; and it was amusing to see how my four regular attendants, Bakhari and Gouvimali the gun- bearers, Simba the sais, and Kiboko the skinner, looked down on their wild and totally uncivilized brethren. They would not associate with the "shenzis," as they called them; that is, savages or bush people. But the "shenzis" An oryx bull From a photograph by Theodore Roosevelt THE GUASO NYERO 331 always amused and interested me; and this was especially true on the afternoon in question. Soon after we had started campward with the skin and meat of the oryx, we encountered a succession of thunder-storms. The rain came down in a deluge, so that the water stood ankle deep on the flats, the lightning flashed continuously on every side, and the terrific peals of thunder made one continuous roll. At first it maddened my horse; but the uninter- rupted blaze and roar, just because uninterrupted, ended by making him feel that there was nothing to be done, and he plodded stolidly forward through the driving storm. My regular attendants accepted it v/ith an entire philosophy, which was finally copied by the Kikuyus, who at first felt frightened. One of them had an old umbrella which he shared with a crony. He himself was carrying the mara- bou stork; his crony had long strips of raw oryx meat wound in a swollen girdle about his waist; neither had a stitch on save the blankets which were wrapped round their throats; and they clasped each other in a tight embrace as they walked along under the battered old umbrella. In this desolate and lonely land the majesty of the storms impressed on the beholder a sense of awe and solemn exaltation. Tossing their crests, and riven by lightning, they gathered in their wrath from every quarter of the heavens, and darkness was before and under them; then, in the lull of a moment, they might break apart, while the sun turned the rain to silver and the rainbows were set in the sky; but always they gathered again, men- acing and mighty, — for the promise of the bow was never kept, and ever the clouds returned after the rain. Once as I rode facing Kenia the clouds tore asunder, to right and left, and the mountain towered between, while across its base was flung a radiant arch. But almost at once the many-colored glory was dimmed; for in splendor and terror the storm strode in front, and shrouded all things from sight in thunder-shattered sheets of rain. 332 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS These days alone in the wilderness went by very pleas- antly, and, as it was for not too long, I thoroughly enjoyed being entirely by myself, so far as white men were con- cerned. By this time I had become really attached to my native followers, who looked after my interest and comfort in every way; and in return I kept them supplied with plenty of food, saw that they were well clothed, and forced them to gather enough firewood to keep their tents dry and warm at night — for cold, rainy weather is always hard upon them. Ali, my faithful head tent boy, and Shemlani his as- sistant — poor Bill the Kikuyu had left because of an in- tricate row with his fellows — were both, as they proudly informed me, Arabs. On the East African coast the so- called Arabs almost all have native blood in them and speak Swahili; the curious, newly created language of the descendants of the natives whom the Arabs originally en- slaved, and who themselves may have in their veins a little Arab blood; in fact, the dividing line between Swahili and Arab becomes impracticable for an outsider to draw where, as is generally the case, it is patent that the blood of both races is mixed to a degree at which it is only possible to guess. Ali spoke some English; and he and Shem- lani were devoted and efficient servitors. Bakhari the gun- bearer was a Swahili, quite fearless with dangerous game, rather sullen, and unmoved by any emotion that I could ever discover. He spoke a little English, but it could not be called idiomatic. One day we saw two ostriches, a cock and a hen, with their chicks, and Bakhari with some ex- citement said, "Look, sah! ostrich! bull, cow, and pups!" The other gun-bearer, Gouvimali, in some ways an even better hunter, and always good-tempered, knew but one English phrase; regularly every afternoon or evening, after cleaning the rifle he had carried, he would say, as he left the tent, his face wreathed in smiles, "G-o-o-d-e-bye!" Gouvimali was a Wakamba, as were Simba and my other sais, M'nyassa, who had taken the place of Hamisi (Hamisi THE GUASO NYERO 333 had broken down in health, his legs, as he assured me, becoming "very sick"). The cook, Roberti, was a mission boy, a Christian; we had several Christians with the safari, one being a headman, and all did excellently. I mention this because one so often hears it said that mission boys turn out worthless. Most of our men were heathens; and of course many, both of the Christians and the Moham- medans, were rather thinly veneered with the religions they respectively professed. When in the morning we started on our hunt my gun- bearers and sais, and the skinners, if any were along, walked silently behind me, on the lookout for game. Re- turning, they were apt to get in front, to pilot me back to camp. If, as at this time was generally the case, we re- turned with our heads bent to the rushing rain, they trudged sturdily ahead in dripping silence. If the weather was clear the spirits of the stalwart fellows were sure to rise until they found some expression. The Wakamba might break into song; or they might all talk together in Swahili, recounting the adventures of the day, and chaffing one another with uproarious laughter about any small misadventure; a difference of opinion as to the direction of camp being always a subject, first for earnest discussion, and then for much mirth at the expense of whomever the event proved mistaken. My two horses, when I did not use them, grazed con- tentedly throughout the day near the little thorn boma which surrounded our tents; and at nightfall the friendly things came within it of their own accord to be given their feed of corn and be put in their own tent. When the sun was hot they were tormented by biting flies; but their work was easy, and they were well treated and throve. In the daytime vultures, kites, and white-necked ravens came round camp, and after nightfall jackals wailed and hyenas uttered their weird cries as they prowled outside the thorn walls. Twice, at midnight, we heard the ominous sighing or moaning of a hungry lion, and I looked to my rifle, which 334 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS always stood, loaded, at the head of my bed. But on neither occasion did he come near us. Every night a fire was kept burning in the entrance to the boma, and the three askaris watched in turn, with instructions to call me if there was any need. I easily kept the camp in meat, as I had guessed that I could do. My men feasted on oryx and eland, while I reserved the tongues and ten- derloins for myself. Each day I hunted for eight or ten hours, something of interest always happening. I would not shoot at the gazelles; and the game I did want was so shy that almost all my shots were at long range, and consequently a number of them did not hit. However, I came on my best oryx in rather thick bush, and killed it at a hundred and twent5^-five yards, as it turned with a kind of sneeze of alarm or curiosity, and stood broadside to me, the sun glinting on its handsome coat and polished black horns. One of my Kikuyu followers packed the skin entire to camp. I had more trouble with another oryx, wounding it one evening at three hundred and fifty yards, and next morning following the trail and Ivory-nut palms on the Guaso Nyero From, a pitolograph by Tlieodore Roosevelt THE GUASO NYERO 335 after much hard work and a couple of misses kilUng it with a shot at three hundred yards. On September 2, I found two newly born oryx calves. The color of the oryx made them less visible than hartebeest when a long way off on the dry plains. I noticed that whenever we saw them mixed in a herd with zebra, it was the zebra that first struck our eyes. But in bright sunlight, in bush, I also noticed that the zebra themselves were hard to see. One afternoon, while skirting the edge of a marsh teeming with waders and water-fowl, I came across four stately Kavirondo cranes, specimens of which bird the naturalists had been particularly anxious to secure. They were not very shy for cranes, but they would not keep still, and I missed a shot with the Springfield as they walked along about a hundred and fifty yards ahead of me. How- ever, they were unwise enough to circle round me when they rose, still keeping the same distance, and all the time uttering their musical call, while their great wings flapped in measured beats. Wing shooting with the rifle, even at such large birds of such slow and regular flight, is never easy, and they were rather far off; but with the last car- tridge in my magazine — the fifth — I brought one whirling down through the air, the bullet having pierced his body. It was a most beautiful bird, black, white, and chestnut, with an erect golden crest, and long, lanceolate gray feathers on the throat and breast. There were waterbuck and impalla in this swamp. I tried to get a bull of the former but failed. Several times I was within fifty yards of doe impalla and cow water- buck, with their young, and watched them as they fed and rested, quite unconscious of my presence. Twice I saw stein- buck, on catching sight of me, lie down, hoping to escape observation. The red coat of the steinbuck is rather con- spicuous, much more so than the coat of the duiker; yet it often tries to hide from possible foes. Late in the afternoon of September 3, Cuninghame and Heller, with the main safari, joined me, and I greeted 336 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS them joyfully; while my men were equally pleased to see their fellows, each shaking hands with his especial friends. Next morning we started toward Meru, heading north-east, toward the foot-hills of Kenia. The vegetation changed its character as we rose. By the stream where we had camped grew the great thorn-trees with yellow-green trunks which we had become accustomed to associate with the presence of herds of game. Out on the dry flats were other thorns, weazened little trees, or mere scrawny bushes, with swellings like bulbs on the branches and twigs, and the long thorns far more conspicuous than the scanty foli- age; though what there was of this foliage, now brilliant green, was exquisite in hue and form, the sprays of delicate little leaves being as fine as the daintiest lace. On the foot-hills all these thorn-trees vanished. We did not go as high as the forest belt proper (here narrow, while above it the bamboos covered the mountain side), but tongues of juniper forest stretched down along the valleys which v^'e crossed, and there were large patches of coarse deer fern, while among many unknown flowers we saw blue lupins, ox-eye daisies, and clover. That night we camped so high that it was really cold, and we welcomed the roaring fires of juniper logs. We rose at sunrise. It was a glorious morning, clear and cool, and as we sat at breakfast, the table spread in the open on the dew-drenched grass, we saw in the south- east the peak of Kenia, and through the high, transparent air the snow-fields seemed so close as almost to dazzle our eyes. To the north and west we looked far out over the wide, rolling plains to a wilderness of mountain ranges, barren and jagged. All that day and the next we journeyed eastward, almost on the equator. At noon the overhead sun burned with torrid heat; but with the twilight— short compared to the long northern twilights, but not nearly as short as tropical twilights are often depicted — came the cold, and each night the frost was heavy. The country was un- tenanted by man. In the afternoon of the third day we THE GUASO NYERO 337 began to go downhill, and hour by hour the flora changed. At last we came to a broad belt of woodland, where the strange trees of many kinds grew tall and thick. Among them were camphor-trees, and trees with gouty branch tips, bearing leaves like those of the black walnut, and panicles of lilac flowers, changing into brown seed vessels; and other trees, with clusters of purple flowers, and the seeds or nuts enclosed in hard pods or seed vessels like huge sausages. On the other side of the forest we came suddenly out on the culti- vated fields of the Wa-Meru, who, like the Kikuyu, till the soil; and among them, far- ther down, was Meru boma, its neat, picturesque buildings beautifully placed among green groves and irrigated fields, and looking out from its cool elevation over the hot valleys beneath. It is one of the prettiest spots in East Africa. We were more than hos- pitably received by the commissioner, Mr. Home, who had been a cow-puncher in Wyoming for seven years — so that naturally we had much in common. He had built the station himself, and had tamed the wild tribes around 22 The Guaso Nyero trum a photograph by Theodore Roosevelt 338 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS by mingled firmness and good treatment; and he was a mighty hunter, and helped us in every way. Here we met Kermit and Tarlton, and heard all about their hunt. They had been away from us for three weeks and a half, along the Guaso Nyero, and had enjoyed first- rate luck. Kermit had been particularly interested in a caravan they had met, consisting of wild spear-bearing Borani, people like Somalis, who were bringing down scores of camels and hundreds of small horses to sell at Nairobi. They had come from the north, near the outlying Abyssin- ian lands, and the caravan was commanded by an Arab of stately and courteous manners. Such an extensive cara- van journey was rare in the old days before English rule; but one of the results of the "Pax Europaica," wherever it obtains in German, French, or English Africa, is a great increase of intercourse, commercial and social, among the different tribes, even where widely separated. This cara- van had been followed by lions; and a day or two after- ward Kermit and Tarlton ran into what were probably these very lions. There were eleven of them: a male with a heavy mane, three lionesses, and seven cubs, some of them about half grown. As Kermit and Tarlton galloped after them, the lion took the lead, the cubs coming in the middle, while the three lionesses loped along in the rear, guarding their young. The lion cared little for his wives and off- spring, and gradually drew ahead of them, while the two horsemen, riding at full speed, made a wide detour round the others in order to reach him; so that at last they got between him and the ten lionesses and cubs, the big lion coming first, the horsemen next, and then the lesser lions, all headed the same way. As the horse-hooves thundered closer the lion turned to bay. Kermit — whose horse had once fallen with him in the chase — and Tarlton leaped off their horses, and Kermit hit the lion with his first shot, and, as it started to charge, mortally wounded it with a second bullet. It turned and tried to reach cover, and Tarlton stopped it with a third shot; for there was no time THE GUASO NYERO 339 to lose, as they wished to tackle the other lions. After a sharp gallop they rounded up the lionesses and cubs. Kermit killed one large cub, which they mistook for a lioness; wounded a lioness which for the time being es- caped; killed another with a single bullet from his 30-40 Winchester — for the others he used his .405 Winchester — and hit the third as she crouched facing him at two hundred A Boran camp From a plwlograph by Kermit Roosevelt yards. She at once came in at full speed, making a most determined charge. Kermit and Tarlton were standing near their horses. The lioness came on with great bounds so that Kermit missed her twice, but broke her shoulder high up when she was but thirty yards off. She fell on her head and, on rising, galloped, not at the men, but at the horses, who, curiously enough, paid no heed to her. Tarlton stopped her with a bullet in the nick of time, just before she reached them, and with another bullet Kermit killed her. Two days 340 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS later they came on the remaining cubs and the wounded Honess, and Kermit killed the latter; but they let the cubs go, feeling it unsportsmanlike to kill them — a feeling which I am by no means certain I share, for lions are scourges not only to both wild and tame animals, but to man himself., Kermit also rode down and killed two cheetahs and a serval, and got a bad tumble while chasing a jackal, his horse turning a complete somersault through a thorny bush. This made seven cheetahs that he had killed, a record un- equalled for any other East African trip of the same length; and the finding and galloping down of these cheetahs — going at breakneck speed over any and every kind of ground, and then shooting them either from foot or horseback — made one of the noteworthy features of our trip. One of these two cheetahs had just killed a steinbuck. The serval was with its mate, and Kermit watched them for some time through his glasses before following them. There was one curious feature of their conduct. One of them was playing about, now near the other, now leaving it; and near by was a bustard, which it several times pretended to stalk, crawling toward it a few yards, and then standing up and walking away. The bustard paid no heed to it; and, more singular still, two white-necked ravens lit close to it, within a few yards on either side; the serval sitting erect between them, seemingly quite unconcerned for a couple of minutes, and then strolling off without making any effort to molest them. I can give no explanation of the incident; it illustrates afresh the need of ample and well-recorded observations by trustworthy field naturalists, who shall go into the wilderness before the big game, the big birds, and the beasts of prey vanish. Those pages of the book of nature which are best worth reading can best be read far from the dwellings of civilized man; and for their full interpretation we need the services, not of one man, but of many men, who in addition to the gift of accurate obser- vation shall if possible possess the power fully, accurately, and with vividness to write about what they have observed. THE GUASO NYERO 341 Kermit shot many other animals, among them three fine oryx, one of which he rode down on horseback, ma- noeuvring so that at last it galloped fairly closely across his front, whereupon he leaped off his horse for the shot; an ardwolf (a miniature hyena with very weak teeth) which bolted from its hole at his approach; gerenuk, small ante- lope with necks relatively as long as giraffes', which are exceedingly shy and difficult to obtain; and the Grevy's zebra, as big as a small horse. Most of his hunting was done alone, either on foot or on horseback; on a long run or all-day tramp no other member of our outfit, black or white, could quite keep up with him. He and Tarlton found where a leopard had killed and partly eaten a nearly full-grown individual of this big zebra. He also shot a twelve-foot crocodile. The ugly, formidable brute had in its belly sticks, stones, the claws of a cheetah, the hoofs of an impalla, and the big bones of an eland, together with the shell plates of one of the large river-turtles; evidently it took toll indifferently from among its fellow-denizens of the river, and from among the creatures that came to drink, whether beasts of pasture or the flesh-eaters that preyed upon them. He also shot three buffalo bulls, Tarlton helping him to finish them off, for they are tough animals, tenacious of life and among the most dangerous of African game. One turned to charge, but was disabled by the bullets of both of them before he could come on. Tarlton, whose experi- ence in the hunting field against dangerous game had been large, always maintained that, although lion hunting was the most dangerous sport, because a hunted lion was far more apt to charge than any other animal, yet when a buffalo bull did charge he was more dangerous than a lion, because harder to kill or turn. Where zebra and other game are abundant, as on the Athi Plains, lion do not med- dle with such formidable quarry as buffalo; on Heatley's farm lions sometimes made their lairs in the same papyrus swamp with the buffalo, but hardly ever molested them. In many places, however, the lion preys largely, and in some 34« VFHICAX (lA.ME TRAILS places chiefly, on the buffalo. The hunters of wide ex- perience with whom I conversed, men like Tarlton, Cun- inghame, and Home, were a unit in stating that where a single lion killed a bufi^alo they had always found that the buffalo was a cow or immature bull, and that whenever they had found a full-grown bull thus killed, several lions had been engaged in the job. Home had once found the carcass of a big bull which had been killed and eaten by lions, and near by lay a dead lioness with a great rip in her side, made by the buffalo's horn in the fight in which he succumbed. Even a buffalo cow, if fairly pitted against a single lion, would probably stand an even chance; but of course the fight never is fair, the lion's aim being to take his prey unawares and get a death grip at the outset; and then, unless his hold is broken, he cannot be seriously injured. Twenty years ago the African buffalo were smitten with one of those overwhelming disasters which are ever occurring and recurring in the animal world. Africa is not only the land, beyond all others, subject to odious and ter- rible insect plagues of every conceivable kind, but is also peculiarly liable to cattle murrains. About the year 1889, or shortly before, a virulent form of rinderpest started among the domestic cattle and wild buffalo almost at the northern border of the buffalo's range, and within the next few years worked gradually southward to beyond the Zambesi. It wrought dreadful havoc among the cattle, and in conse- quence decimated by starvation many of the cattle-owning tribes; it killed many of the large bovine antelopes, and it wellnigh exterminated the buffalo. In many places the buffalo herds were absolutely wiped out, the species be- ing utterly destroyed throughout great tracts of territory, notably in East Africa; in other places the few survivors did not represent the hundredth part of those that had died. For years the East African buffalo ceased to exist as a beast of the chase. But all the time it was slowly regaining the lost ground, and during the last decade its THE GUASO XYERO 343 increase has been rapid. Unlike the slow-breeding ele- phant and rhinoceros, buffalo multiply apace, like domes- tic cattle, and in many places the herds have now become too numerous. Their rapid recovery from a calamity so terrific is interesting and instructive.* Doubtless for many years after man, in recognizably human form, appeared on this planet, he played but a small part in the destruction of big animals, compared to plague, to insect pests and A domesticated young male eland at Meru From a photograph by Edmund Heller microbes, to drought, flood, earth upheaval, and change of temperature. But during the geological moment covering the few thousand years of recorded history man has been not merely the chief, but practically the sole factor in the extermination of big mammals and birds. At and near Meru boma we spent a fortnight hunting elephant and rhinoceros, as described in the preceding chapter. While camped by the boma white-necked vultu- *On our trip along the Guaso Nycro we heard that there had been a fresh out- break of rinderpest among the buflfalo; I hope it will not prove such a hideous disaster. 344 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS rlne ravens and black and white crows came familiarly around the tents. A young eland bull, quite as tame as a domestic cow, was picketed, now here, now there, about us. Home was breaking it to drive in a cart. During our stay another district commissioner, Mr. Piggott, came over on a short visit; it was he who the pre- ceding year, while at Neri, had been obliged to undertake the crusade against the rhinos, because, quite unprovoked, they had killed various natives. He told us that at the same time a man-eating leopard made its appearance, and killed seven children. It did not attack at night, but in the daytime, its victims being the little boys who were watching the flocks of goats; sometimes it took a boy and sometimes a goat. Two old men killed it with spears on the occasion of its taking the last victim. It was a big male, very old, much emaciated, and the teeth worn to stumps. Home told us that a month or two before our arrival at Meru a leopard had begun a career of woman-killing. It killed one woman by a bite in the throat, and ate the body. It sprang on and badly wounded another, but was driven off in time to save her life. This was probably the leopard Heller trapped and shot, in the very locality where it had committed its ravages; it was an old male, but very thin, with worn teeth. In these cases the reason for the beast's action was plain: in each instance a big, savage male had found his powers failing, and had been driven to prey on the females and young of the most helpless of animals, man. But another attack, of which Piggott told us, was apparently due to the queer individual freakishness always to be taken into account in dealing with wild beasts. A Masai chief, with two or three followers, was sitting eating under a bush, when, absolutely without warning, a leopard sprang on him, clawed him on the head and hand, without biting him, and as instantly disappeared. Piggott attended to the wounded man. In riding in the neighborhood, through the tall dry grass, which would often rattle in the wind, I was amused THE GUASO NYERO 345 to find that if I suddenly heard the sound I was apt to stand alertly on guard, quite unconsciously and instinctively, because it suggested the presence of a rattlesnake. During the years I lived on a ranch in the West I was always hear- ing and killing rattlesnakes, and although I knew well that no African snake carries a rattle, my subconscious senses always threw me to attention if there was a sound resembling that made by a rattler. Tarlton, by the way, told me an interesting anecdote of a white-tailed mongoose and a snake. The mongoose was an inmate of the house where he dwelt with his brother and was quite tame. One day they brought in a rather small puff adder, less than two feet long, put it on the floor, and showed it to the mongoose. Instantly the latter sprang toward the snake, every hair in its body and tail on end, and halted five feet away, while the snake lay in curves like the thong of a whip, its head turned toward the mongoose. Both were motionless for a moment. Then suddenly the mongoose seemed to lose all its excitement; its hair smoothed down; and it trotted qui- etly up to the snake, seized it by the middle of the back — it always devoured its food with savage voracity — and set- tled comfortably down to its meal. Like lightning the snake's head whipped round. It drove its fangs deep into the snout or lip of the mongoose, hung on for a moment, and then repeated the blow. The mongoose paid not the least attention, but went on munching the snake's body, severed its backbone at once, and then ate it all up, head, fangs, poison, and everything; and it never showed a sign of having received any damage in the encounter. I had always understood that the mongoose owed its safety to its agility in avoiding the snake's stroke, and I can offer no explanation of this particular incident. There were eland on the high downs not far from Meru, apparently as much at home in the wet, cold climate as on the hot plains. Their favorite gait is the trot. An elephant moves at a walk or rather rack; a giraffe has a very pecul- iar leisurely looking gallop, both hind legs coming forward .'J4(> AFRICAN GAME TRAILS nearly at the same time, outside the forelegs; rhino and buffalo trot and run. Eland when alarmed bound with as- tonishing agility for such large beasts — a trait not shown by other large antelope, like oryx — and then gallop for a short distance; but the big bulls speedily begin to trot, and the cows and younger bulls gradually also drop back into the trot. In fact, their gaits are in essence those of the wapiti, which also prefer the trot, although wapiti never make the bounds that eland do at the start. The moose, however, is more essentially a trotter than either eland or wapiti; a very old and heavy moose never, when at speed, goes at any other gait than a trot, except that under the press- ure of great and sudden danger it may perhaps make a few bounds.* While at Meru boma I received a cable, forwarded by native runners, telling me of Peary's wonderful feat in reaching the North Pole. Of course we were all over- joyed, and in particular we Americans could not but feel a special pride in the fact that it was a fellow-countryman who had performed the great and noteworthy achievement. A little more than a year had passed since I said good-by to Peary as he started on his Arctic quest; after leaving New York in the Roosevelt, he had put into Oyster Bay to see us, and we had gone aboard the Roosevelt, had ex- amined with keen interest how she was fitted for the boreal seas and the boreal winter, and had then waved farewell to the tall, gaunt explorer, as he stood looking toward us over the side of the stout little ship.f On September 21, Kermit and Tarlton started south- *A perfectly trustworthy Maine hunter informed me that in the spring he had once seen in the snow where a bear had sprung at two big moose, and they had bounded for several rods before settling into the tremendous trot which is their normal gait when startled. I have myself seen signs that showed where a young moose had galloped for some rods under similar circumstances; and I have seen big moose calves, or half-grown moose, in captivity gallop a few yards in play, although rarely. But the normal, and under ordinary circumstances the only, gait of the moose is the trot. t When I reached Neri I received from Peary the following cable: "Your fare- well was a roval mascot. The Pole is ours. — Peary." THE (a ASO nyh:k() u: west, toward Lake Hannington, and Cuninghame and I north toward the Guaso Nyero. Heller was under the weather, and we left him to spend a few days at Meru boma, and then to take in the elephant skins and other museum specimens to Nairobi. As Cuninghame and I were to be nearly four weeks in PlelpiiiL; a d(_uike\' ai.i"i>>s the ^ireaiu From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt a country with no food supplies, we took a small donkey safari to carry the extra food for our porters — for in these remote places the difficulty of taking in many hundred pounds of salt, as well as skin tents, and the difficulty of bringing out the skeletons and skins of the big animals collected, make such an expedition as ours, undertaken for scientific purposes, far more cumbersome and unwieldy 348 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS than a mere hunting trip, or even than a voyage of explo- ration, and trebles the labor. A long day's march brought us down to the hot country. That evening we pitched our tents by a rapid brook, bor- dered by palms, whose long, stifif fronds rustled ceaselessly in the wind. Monkeys swung in the tree tops. On the march I shot a Kavirondo crane on the wing with the little Springfield, almost exactly repeating my experience with the other crane which I had shot three weeks before, ex- cept that on this occasion I brought down the bird with my third bullet, and then wasted the last two cartridges in the magazine at his companions. At dusk the donkeys were driven to a fire within the camp, and they stood* pa- tiently round it in a circle throughout the night, safe from lions and hyenas. Next day's march brought us to another small tributary of the Guaso Nyero, a little stream twisting rapidly through the plain, between sheer banks. Here and there it was edged with palms and beds of bulrushes. We pitched the tents close to half a dozen flat-topped thorn-trees. We spent several days at this camp. Many kites came around the tents, but neither vultures nor ravens. The country was a vast plain bounded on almost every hand by chains of far-off mountains. In the south-west, just beyond the equator, the snows of Kenia lifted toward the sky. To the north the barren ranges were grim with the grimness of the desert. The flats were covered with pale, bleached grass which waved all day long in the wind; for though there were sometimes calms, or changes in the wind, on most of the days we were out it never ceased blowing from some point in the south. In places the parched soil was crumbling and rotten; in other places it was thickly strewn with vol- canic stones; there were but few tracts over which a horse could gallop at speed, although neither the rocks nor the rotten soil seemed to hamper the movements of the game. Here and there were treeless stretches. Elsewhere there were occasional palms; and trees thirty or forty feet high. THE GUASO NYERO 349 seemingly cactus or aloes, which looked even more like candelabra than the euphorbia which is thus named; and a scattered growth of thorn-trees and bushes. The thorn- trees were of many kinds. One bore only a few leathery leaves, the place of foliage being taken by the mass of poi- sonous-looking, fleshy spines which, together with the ends of the branches, were bright green. The camel-thorn was completely armed with little, sharply hooked thorns which tore whatever they touched, whether flesh or clothes. Then there were the mimosas, with long, straight thorn spikes; they are so plentiful in certain places along the Guaso Nyero that almost all the lions have festering sores in their paws because of the spikes that have broken off^ in them. In these thorn-trees the weaver-birds had built multitudes of their straw nests, each with its bottle-shaped mouth toward the north, away from the direction of the prevailing wind. Each morning we were up at dawn, and saw the heavens redden and the sun flame over the rim of the world. All day long we rode and walked across the endless flats, save that at noon, when the sky was like molten brass, we might rest under the thin half shade of some thorn-tree. As the shadows lengthened and the harsh, pitiless glare softened, we might turn campward; or we might hunt until the sun went down, and the mountains in the far-off west, and the sky above them, grew faint and dim with the hues of fairy- land. Then we would ride back through the soft, warm beauty of the tropic night, the stars blazing overhead and the silver moonlight flooding the reaches of dry grass; it was so bright that our shadows were almost as black and clear-cut as in the day. On reaching camp I would take a cup of tea with crackers or gingersnaps, and after a hot bath and a shave I was always eager for dinner. Scattered over these flats were herds of zebra, oryx, and gazelle. The gazelle, the most plentiful and much the tamest of the game, were the northern form of the Grant's gazelle, with straighter horns which represented the oppo- site extreme when compared with the horns of the Roberts' 350 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS type which we got on the Sotik. They seemed to me some- what less in size than the big gazelle of the Kapiti Plains. One of the bucks I shot, an adult of average size (I was not able to weigh my biggest one), weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds; a very big true Grant's buck which I shot on the Kapiti Plains weighed one hundred and seventy-one pounds; doubtless there is complete intergradation, but the Guaso Nyero form seemed slimmer and lighter, and in some respects seemed to tend toward the Somaliland gazelles, I marked no difference in the habits, except that these northern gazelle switched their tails more jerkily, more like tommies, than was customary with the true Grant's gazelles. But the diiference may have been in my observation. At any rate, the gazelles in this neighbor- hood, like those elsewhere, went in small parties, or herds of thirty or forty individuals, on the open plains or where there were a few scattered bushes, and behaved like those in the Sotik or on the Athi Plains. A near kinsman of the gazelle, the gerenuk, a curious creature with a very long neck, which the Swahilis call "little giraffe," was scattered singly or in small parties through the brush, and was as wild and wary as the common gazelle was tame. It seemed to prefer browsing, while the common gazelle grazes. The handsome oryx, with their long horns carried by both sexes, and their coloring of black, white, and dun gray, came next to the gazelle in point of numbers. They were generally found in herds of from half a dozen to fifty individuals, often mixed with zebra herds. There were also solitary bulls, probably turned out of the herds by more vigorous rivals, and often one of these would be found with a herd of zebras, more merciful to it than its own kinsfolk. All this game of the plains is highly gregarious in habit, and the species associate freely with one another. The oryx cows were now generally accompanied by very young calves, for, unlike what we found to be the case with the hartebeest on the Athi, the oryx on the Guaso Nyero seem THE GUASO NYERO 351 to have a definite calving time — September.* I shot only bulls (there was no meat, either for the porters or ourselves, except what I got with the rifle), and they were so wary that almost all those I killed were shot at ranges between three hundred and five hundred yards; and at such ranges I need hardly say that I did a good deal of missing. One wounded bull which, the ground being favorable, I gal- loped down, turned to bay and threatened to charge the horse. We weighed one bull; it tipped the scales at four hundred pounds. The lion kills we found in this neighbor- hood were all oryx and zebra; and evidently the attack was made in such fashion that the oryx had no more chance to fight than the zebra. The zebra were of both species, the smaller or Burchell's, and the Grevy's, which the porters called kangani. Each animal went in herds by itself, and almost, as frequently we found them in mixed herds containing both species. But they never interbreed, and associate merely as each does with the oryx. The kangani is a fine beast, much bigger than its kinsman; it is as large as a polo pony. It is less noisy than the common zebra, the "bonte quagga" of the Boers, and its cry is totally different. Its gaits are a free, slashing trot and gallop. When it stands facing one the huge, fringed ears make it instantly recognizable. The stripes are much narrower and more numerous than those on the small zebra, and in consequence cease to be dis- tinguishable at a shorter distance; the animal then looks gray, like a wild ass. When the two zebras are together the coloring of the smaller kind is more conspicuous. In scanning a herd with the glasses we often failed to make out the species until we could catch the broad black and white stripes on the rump of the common "bonte quagga." There were many young foals with the kangani; I hap- *0f course this represents only one man's experience. I wish there were many such observations. On the Athi in May I found new-born wildebeest and harte- beest calves, and others several months old. In June in the Sotik I saw new-born eland calves, and topi calves several months old. In September on the Guaso Nyero all the oryx calves were new-born. The zebra foals were also very young. 352 AFRIC.\N GAME TRAILS pened not to see any with the Burchell's. I found the kan- gani even more wary and more difficult to shoot than the oryx. The first one I killed was shot at a range of four hundred yards; the next I wounded at that distance, and had to ride it down, at the cost of a hard gallop over very bad country and getting torn by the "wait-a-bit" thorns. A inixiii herd of Crevy's and lUncht-irs zebras From