THE LOWER BENCHES. 339 



great as cathedral aisles. And in the short brush 

 dwelt rhinoceros and impalla ; in the jungles 

 were buffalo and elephant ; on the plains we saw 

 giraffe, hartebeeste, zebra, duiker ; and in the 

 bases of the hills we heard at evening and early 

 morning the roaring of lions. 



In this charming spot we lingered eight days. 

 Memba Sasa and I spent most of our time trying 

 to get one of the jungle- dwelling buffalo without 

 his getting us. In this we were finally successful.* 

 Then, as it was about time for C. to return, we 

 moved back to V.'s boma on the Narossara ; 

 relaying, as usual, the carrying of our effects. At 

 this time I had had to lay off three more men on 

 account of various sorts of illness, so was stih 1 

 more cramped for transportation facilities. As 

 we were breaking camp a lioness leaped to her 

 feet from where she had been lying under a 

 bush. So near was it to camp that I had not 

 my rifle ready. She must have been lying there 

 within two hundred yards of our tents, watching 

 all our activities. 



We drew into V.'s boma a little aftertwoo'clock. 

 The man in charge of our tent did not put in 

 an appearance until next day. Fortunately V. 

 had an extra tent, which he lent us. We camped 



* " The Land of Footprints. ' 



