92 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
the grass for a considerable distance. In this manceu- 
vring it happened that Mrs. Akeley was able to stalk 
the best bull, and a few minutes later he was finished 
off and we were busy photographing, measuring, and 
preparing the skin. 
About twenty-five miles to the northwest from the 
Tana, across the plain on the Theba River, is a marsh 
where a herd of nearly a hundred buffaloes was known 
to live, but the Provincial Commissioner had defi- 
nitely said that we were not to shoot these. We 
decided finally to ask for the privilege, which was 
granted, but with a warning in the form of an ex- 
planation: that he had told us not to shoot there 
because of the danger involved. 
_ We found a reed marsh about one by two miles in 
extent with, at that time, a foot or two of water in 
the buffalo trails that crisscrossed it in all directions. 
On arriving, and while making camp at one end of 
the marsh just at dusk, we saw the herd come out on 
dry land a half mile away—but they returned to 
cover before we could approach them. In fact, dur- 
ing nearly two weeks that we spent there we saw 
them come outside the swamp only twice, each time 
to return immediately. 
We made several attempts to approach them in 
the marsh, but found that while it was quite possible 
to get up to them it was out of the question to choose 
our specimens. Also it would have been impossible 
to beat a retreat in case of a charge or stampede; so 
we adopted a campaign of watchful waiting. From 
the camp at daybreak we would scan the marsh for 
