With Mashlight and Rifle ^ 



At the time of my first journey the question was still 

 undecided what kind ot gnus were to be found in the 

 Masai country ; we know now that only the white-bearded 

 gnu Nourishes there. It wanders about all over the place, 

 according to the rains, is very gregarious, and is almost 

 always to be found in company with zebras, ostriches, and 

 other animals. For weeks together I have watched a 

 curious trio, consisting' ot an old bull <>nu,a female gerenuk- 

 (jazelle, and a male Thomson's Qrazelle, and succeeded 

 once in photographing them. 



Gnus, like zebras, are often able to q-o for a lonor time 

 with water containing salt, which other animals cannot 

 drink ; in the dry season they are to be found for months 

 together in the neighbourhood of the Natron Lakes, 

 where they graze upon the short new grass which springs 

 up when the lakes periodically go dry. 



It is not difficult to get within shooting distance of 

 these gnus in regions where they have not yet been 

 hunted by Europeans ; the old bulls allow the hunter to 

 come within two hundred paces, even on quite open 

 spaces, before they take to fiight (the herds being several 

 hundred paces further away), so it is not hard to bring 

 them down. 



Very old bulls keep apart fVom the herd, either alone 

 or in twos and threes. These very old animals are found 

 sometimes with the hair on their heads almost entirely 

 white. When the gnus get wind of the hunter they 

 begin snorting and go through extraordinary evolutions, 

 springing about continually in all kinds of ways before 

 taking to flight. They are apt to go through these antics 



484 



