BRITISH EAST AFRICA 183 



eighteen hours. Natives have absolutely no idea 

 of time. They always make some sort of a state- 

 ment, but two hours to them conveys no more than 

 half-an-hour and vice versd. We passed through 

 some beautiful country and saw vast herds of Masai 

 sheep and cattle. One evening, our camp being 

 close to a ford, nearly four thousand head must 

 have passed within half-an-hour. 



We shot a few Thomson gazelles and one good 

 Grant, the best I obtained, close to camp. 



A full-grown Tommy, weighed by Burton, scaled, 

 uncleaned, 50 Ibs. They are nice little beasts, stand- 

 ing about 25 inches at the shoulder. 



Following a wounded Tommy usually involves 

 a stern chase and a long one. They keep pottering 

 on and on, just out of shot, nicking their little tufted 

 tails, and driving their perspiring pursuer frantic. 

 It is hard to make up one's mind what to do when 

 a beast is wounded. It is far better in the majority 

 of cases to wait, and yet all one's inclinations are to 

 follow immediately and try to get the business over 

 at once. If you leave your beast alone for a bit 

 he is nearly certain to lie down before long if he 

 is badly hit ; whereas, if he be only slightly wounded, 

 he will in any case, followed or not, lose no time 

 in putting as great a distance between himself and 

 his pursuers as possible. 



The head of a Grant's gazelle is, with that of an 

 impala, the finest of the smaller trophies to be ob- 

 tained in East Africa, and I never ceased to admire 



