The Bahr-el-Zeraf 



I managed to secure an old buck with nice 

 twenty-nine-inch horns. Nothing out of the way, 

 but a head worth keeping. Immediately after- 

 wards I saw another, belonging to a different 

 herd, which was on the move, startled at the 

 report of my shot. He was rather bigger than 

 the first, I fancy, but I wasn't out to decimate the 

 species, and I didn't want more than one unless 

 the second should prove to be a " whacker," so I 

 let him off to fight another day, 



Shordy after this we started down stream. 

 The river scenery continued much like that 

 previously described. Wide stretches of floating 

 turf edged the papyrus growth. On the land 

 gigantic primeval trees were so thickly interwoven 

 with climbing plants that they presented a front 

 of smooth foliage. Without an axe it is hard to 

 penetrate these woods ; and they are haunted by 

 lions and leopards and beautifully marked 

 pythons. 



In an hour or two the forest became thinner, 

 allowing of a view of herds of game — waterbuck 

 chiefly — in the glades and clearings between the 

 mass of trees and the river. Then for ten miles 

 or so, as we dropped down stream, I have 

 seldom seen such a sight of animal life, excepting 

 on the Athi plains in East Africa, from the 

 carriages of the Uganda railway. The banks 

 were fairly stiff with waterbuck, from the old 

 veterans, scarred, and bearing the marks of many 



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