BRITISH EAST AFRICA 233 



right, it carried 28-inch horns with a span of 23 

 inches. I had not as yet shot a water-buck, and 

 Burton having seen one in the swamp not far distant, 

 I went there the following day in the hope of getting 

 a shot. We found him all right, feeding with seven 

 or eight does in an opening in the reeds the other 

 side of a small stream. The wind was very tricky, 

 the reeds too tall to shoot over, so we crawled up 

 to within thirty yards and waited. Two cow eland 

 joined them after a quarter of an hour; then un- 

 fortunately a doe got our wind. The buck showed 

 through a bush for a brief second and dashed straight 

 into the swamp. I had a snap at his retreating form 

 with no effect. After some difficulty we got across 

 the stream, and entered a thick patch of tall growth 

 about eight feet high, smelling strongly of mint. 

 After forty yards of this, we came to rushes, water, 

 and the beginning of the swamp. Just as we reached 

 it there came a lumbering crash from just ahead. 

 It was no water-buck, and knowing that it could 

 be only one thing a buffalo I remembered that 

 I wanted a smoke very badly and cleared out ! 



On our way back we came on a fine spectacle. 

 Without any warning, the ground suddenly dropped 

 into a ravine about a hundred and fifty feet deep 

 and a couple of hundred yards across. A stream 

 murmured along between banks as green and fresh 

 as those in an English park, while huge mimosas 

 spread their graceful boughs above, covered with 

 scarlet fungi. Quietly feeding along the bottom, 



