Hunting in Many Lands 



to them possessed sufficient food to be able to 

 supply the wants of my caravan. I therefore 

 made it abase at which I could leave the major 

 part of my following, and from which I could 

 with comfort and safety venture forth on shoot- 

 ing trips, accompanied by only a few men. 



The first of these excursions was made to 

 the shores of Lake Jipe, six hours' march from 

 Taveta, for the purpose of shooting hippos. I 

 took with me my whole battery and thirteen 

 men. This unlucky number perhaps influenced 

 my fortunes, for I returned to Taveta empty 

 handed and fever stricken, after a stay on the 

 shores of the lake lasting some days. How- 

 ever, my experiences were interesting, if only 

 because they were in great measure the result 

 of ignorance. Up to this time my sporting ex- 

 perience had dealt only with snipe and turkey 

 shooting in Florida, for on my road from the 

 coast, the little game seen was too wary to give 

 me a chance of putting a rifle to my shoulder. 



The shores of Lake Jipe, where I pitched 

 my tent, were quite flat and separated from the 

 open water of the lake by a wide belt of swamp 

 growth. I had brought with me, for the pur- 

 pose of constructing a raft, several bundles of 

 the stems of a large palm growing in Taveta. 



14 



