THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 99 



finest examples known to us of the northern variety of this strange 

 creature, a species which extends from east to west far over the north - 

 ern part of Central Africa, with the exception of Somaliland, where a 

 species of peculiar color is found. 



In the species we are now observing, the color of the adults is 

 very dark on the upper part of the body, while they are white below, 

 they being thus striking objects when seen from a distance. This is 

 especially the case when they are beheld, as may often be the case, 

 standing on the tops of some of the numerous ant-hills of this country 

 and keenly surveying the region surrounding. Poised thus like a 

 sentinel on a mound, a giraffe stands rigidly erect, scarcely moving 

 his head ; so that, with his short body and long, tapering neck, he looks 

 not unlike an unbranched tree trunk which has been struck by light- 

 ning or scorched by a forest fire. 



Looking down from a distance on these broad, rolling downs, the 

 giraffes are only one of the forms of large game visible. Herds of 

 huge elephants may be seen at intervals, though these great creatures 

 usually prefer the forest to the open plain. The rhinoceros may also 

 be seen, sometimes a solitary female with her calf, sometimes a mated 

 pair, the color a purple-black or a whitish-gray, according to the angle 

 from which the light strikes them as they roam through the long grass. 



We have here spoken only of the big game, such great creatures 

 as our party of scientific tourists could see at a great distance. Nearer 

 at hand are visible great numbers of varied forms. These include 

 herds of striped zebras and hartebeests mingled together, the zebras 

 with their stripes of black and white, the hartebeests with their rich 

 coats of red-gold hue. In the vicinity strut about pairs of jet-black 

 ostriches, with white wings and tails and long pink necks. At a dis- 

 tance appear groups of the noble waterbuck, the males with their 

 branching antlers browsing beside their hornless, doe-like females. 



Here also is the reedbuck, gray-yellow in color, quietly browsing, 

 or bounding along at a speed difficult to match. The damiliscus, or 

 sable antelope, a creature of dainty proportions and rich coloring, is 

 also visible, with others of the same graceful tribe, among them the 

 wildebeest, an animal much better known to us by its common name 

 of the gnoo or horned horse. The .^reat, elk-like eland also may be 

 seen here, though the woodland is its favorite resort. 



