BRITISH EAST AFRICA 189 



There are three sciences some knowledge of which 

 every one travelling in a place like Africa should 

 possess, namely, botany, ornithology, and zoology. 

 Of the two former, to my lasting regret I know 

 nothing, and the many wonderful birds, beautiful 

 plants, trees, and flowers which beset the untrodden 

 ways of Africa were, to a great extent, thrown away 

 upon me. 



There were birds which whistled in a disconcert- 

 ingly human manner. Often in the middle of a 

 stalk I have been deluded into thinking that one 

 of the men was trying to signal to me. 



I was very anxious to obtain a Gerenuk or 

 Waller's gazelle, as I knew there were some about. 

 I only had one chance, which I lost through no fault 

 of my own. I had seen some feeding on an open 

 patch of ground, and was getting along nicely despite 

 a painful crawl. They were suspicious and kept 

 raising their heads to look in my direction, but a 

 convenient tree intervened to hide my presence. I 

 was just getting within range, when over the crest 

 of the ridge on which they were feeding came 

 Burton's infernal pony. It really was bad luck, 

 being the second time it had happened in three 

 days. If that wretched pony got loose and I was 

 doing a stalk anywhere within five miles, it made a 

 bee-line for me like a needle to a magnet. 



Three porters turned up in pursuit and we finally 

 caught the brute. Burton, I was delighted to hear 

 later, had administered on the delinquents' arrival 



