158 TREKKING [ch. vti 



We had two canvas cloths with us, which Heller had 

 instructed me to put over anything I shot, in order to 

 protect it from the sun ; so, covering both bulls, I 

 left a porter with them, and sent in another to notify 

 Heller, who came out with an ox-waggon to bring in 

 the skins and meat. I had killed these two eland bulls, | 

 as well as the buck gazelle (bringing down each with a 

 single bullet) within three-quarters of an hour after i 

 leaving camp. 



I wanted a topi, and continued the hunt. The 

 country swarmed with the herds and flocks of the 

 Masai, who own a wealth of live stock. Each herd of 

 cattle and donkeys or flock of sheep was guarded by 

 its herdsmen — bands of stalwart, picturesque warriors, 

 with their huge spears and ox-hide shields, occasionally 

 strolled by us ; and we passed many bomas, the kraals 

 where the stock is gathered at night, with the mud huts 

 of the owners ringing them. Yet there was much game 

 in the country also, chiefly zebra and hartebeest ; the 

 latter, according to tlieir custom, continually jumping 

 up on ant-hills to get a clearer view of me, and some- 

 times standing on them motionless for a considerable 

 time, as sentries to scan the country around. 



At last we spied a herd of topi, distinguishable from 

 the hartebeest at a very long distance by their dark 

 colouring, the purples and browns giving the coat a 

 heavy shading, which when far off, in cef^^ain lights, 

 looks almost black. Topi, hartebeest, and wildebeest 

 belong to the same group, and are specialized, and their 

 peculiar physical and mental traits developed, in the 

 order named. The wildebeest is the least normal and 

 most grotesque and odd-looking of the three, and his 

 idiosyncrasies of temper are also the most marked. The 

 hartebeest comes next, with his very high withers, long 



