With Flashlio;ht and Rifle ^ 



and there light showers of rain had brought out patches 

 of new grass and new leaves upon the trees, and these 

 the kudus sought out. The blazing sunlight, the rough 

 and stony ground, and the thorny vegetation make the 

 stalking of the animals a very difficult job. I was sorry 

 to find muzzle-loaders in the huts of all the natives. They 

 had been hunting this valuable prey until it had been 

 almost exterminated. 



I have never seen the greater kudu in the Masai 

 ■country, except in the neighbourhood of the Gilei volcano. 

 It must, however, appear sometimes in the steep declivity 

 going down towards the Natron Lake — " the great ditch," 

 as it is called — as the natives of Nguruman possess numerous 

 signalling-horns made out of the horns of these animals. 

 In the south of German East Africa also the greater 

 kudu would seem to be numerous ; a well-known officer 

 in our colonial police brought me to the Coast a great 

 number of kudu-horns secured by Askaris in the Tabora 

 neighbourhood. 



My experience of the greater kudu was comparatively 

 slight, but I was glad to come across great numbers 

 of the much weaker species called the lesser kudu 

 [S/r(psice7'0s iniberhis). This wonderful little animal is 

 sometimes to be seen in the Masai country, but only 

 here and there and in small numbers. The Masai gave 

 them the name " o'ssiram," while the Wandorobo designate 

 them " njaigo." 



The beautiful white-maned, dark-skinned bucks and 

 the hornless does, whose skins are of a still darker 

 brown, present a wonderful picture when you come upon 



472 



