114 IN BRIGHTEST AFRICA 
overland from one pool or stream to another. How 
far he treks in this way I do not know, and the ques- 
tion is much disputed. I am certain that it is some- 
times as much as fifty miles. 
While I have found but little enjoyment in shooting 
any kind of animal, I confess that in hunting ele- 
phants and lions under certain conditions I have al- 
ways felt that the animal had sufficient chance in the 
game to make it something like a sporting proposi- 
tion. On the other hand, much of the shooting that 
I have had to do in order to obtain specimens for 
museum collections has had none of this aspect at 
all and has made me feel a great deal like a murderer. 
One of the worst of my experiences was with the 
wild ass of Somaliland on my first trip to Africa. 
These animals are rare, and as they are the only mem- 
bers of the horse family in that part of Africa, the 
Field Museum of Natural History was anxious to get 
specimens of them. 
After several heart-breaking days’ work my com- 
panion, Dodson, and I had secured but one specimen 
and several were needed for a group. One day 
under guidance of natives who promised to take us 
to a country where they abounded, we started out 
at three o’clock in the morning, with a couple of 
camels to bring back the skins if we got them. At 
about eight, as we were crossing a sandy plain where 
here and there a dwarfed shrub or tuft of grass had 
managed to find sustenance, one of the gun-bearers 
pointed out in the distance an object which he de- 
—— ee a ne 
