CH xi] COUNTRY OF THE SAMBl^RU 305 



another as the herd started to run. Leaving the skinners 

 to take care of the dead animal — a fine cow — Cuning- 

 hame and I started after the herd to see if the wounded 

 one had fallen out. After a mile the trail led into some 

 scant cover. Here the first thinor we did was to run 



o 



into another rhinoceros. It was about seventy yards 



away, behind a thorn-tree, and began to move jerkily 



and abruptly to and fro, gazing towards us. " Oh, you 



malevolent old idiot !" T muttered, facing it with rifle 



cocked. Then, as it did not charge, I added to Cuning- 



hame : " Well, 1 guess it will let us go by all right." And 



let us go by it did. We were anxious not to shoot, both 



because in a country with no settlers a rhino rarely does 



harm, and also because I object to anything like needless 



butchery, and furthermore because we desired to avoid 



alarming the buffalo. Half a mile farther on we came on 



the latter, apparently past their fright. W^e looked them 



carefully over with our glasses. The wounded one was 



evidently not much hurt, and therefore T did not wisli 



to kill her, for I did not need another cow, and there 



was no adult bull. So we did not molest them, and 



after a while they got our wind, and went off at a 



lumbering gallop. Returning to the dead cow, we 



i found the skin ready, and marched back to camp, reach- 



i ing it just as the moon rose at seven. We had been 



[ away thirteen hours, with nothing to eat and only the 



tepid water in our canteens to drink. 



I We were in the country of the Samburu, and several 



' of their old men and warriors visited us at this camp. 



They are cattle-owning nomads like the Masai ; but in 



addition to cattle, sheep, and goats, they own herds of 



I camels, which they milk, but do not use as beasts of 



' burden. In features they are more like Somalis than 



negroes. 



!^0 



