310 THE GUASO NYERO [ch. xi 



ten feet of her. Nearer I did not care to venture, as 

 giraffe strike and kick very hard with their hoofs, and, 

 moreover, occasionally strike with the head, the blow 

 seemingly not being delivered with the knobby, skin- 

 covered horns, but with the front teeth of the lower 

 jaw. She waked, looked at me, and then, rearing 

 slightly, struck at me with her left fore-leg, the blow 

 falling short. I laughed and leaped back, and the other 

 men ran up shouting. But the giraffe would not run 

 away. She stood within twenty feet of us, looking at 

 us peevishly, and occasionally pouting her lips at us, as 

 if she were making a f;ice. We kept close to the tree, 

 so as to dodge round it, under the branches, if she came 

 at us, for we should have been most reluctant to shoot 

 her. I threw a stick at her, hitting her in the side, but 

 she paid no attention : and when Bakhari came behind 

 her with a stick she tin-ned sharply on liim and he 

 made a prompt retreat. We were laughing and talking 

 all the time. Then we pelted her with sticks and clods 

 of earth, and, after having thus stood within twenty feet 

 of us for three or four minutes, she cantered slowly off 

 for fifty yards, and then walked away with leisurely 

 unconcern. She was apparently in the best of health 

 and in perfect condition. She did not get our wind, 

 but her utter indifference to the close presence of four 

 men is inexplicable.^ 



On eacli of the two days we hunted this little district 

 we left camp at sunrise, and did not return until eight 

 or nine in the evening, fairly well tired, and not a little 



^ After writinjj the above account I read it over to Mr. Cunina-- 

 hame so as to be sure that it was accurate in all its details. All 

 the game was tame in this locality, even the giraffe, but no other 

 giraffe allowed us to get within two hundred yards, and most of 

 them ran long before that distance was reached, even when we were 

 stalking carefully. 



