48 ON AN EAST AFRICAN llANCH [ch. ii 



found in open bush country ; but they hve in the open 

 plains by choice. 



I could not find out that they liad fixed times for 

 resting, feeding, and going to water. They and the 

 hartebeest formed the favourite prey of the numerous 

 lions of the neighbourhood, 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 stampedes 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 hartebeest, stampeded either 

 by lions or wild-dogs, rushed through tlie streets of 

 Nairobi, several being killed by the inhabitants, and 

 one of the victims falling just outside the Episcopal 

 Church. The zebras are nearly powerless M^hen seized 

 by lions, but they are bold creatures against less formid- 

 able foes, trusting in their hoofs and their strong jaws ; 

 they will, when in a herd, drive off hyenas or wild-dogs, 

 and will turn on hounds if the hunter is not 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. Ordinarily, as I saw them, they did 

 not seem very shy of men, but in this respect all the 

 game displayed the widest differences, 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 fiee from our approach when half 

 a mile off, and again they would permit us to come 



