THE GUASO NYERO 307 



the sunlight, minding it as little as they did the furnace- 

 like heat. We found the really dense wait-a-bit thorn 

 thickets quite impenetrable, whereas the giraffe moved 

 through them with utter unconcern. But the giraffe's in- 

 difference to thorns is commonplace compared to its in- 

 difference to water. These particular giraffe were not 

 drinking either at the river or at the one or two streams 

 which were running into it; and in certain places giraffe 

 will subsist for months without drinking at all. How the 

 waste and evaporation of moisture from their huge bodies 

 is supplied is one of the riddles of biology. 



We could not get a bull giraffe, and it was only a bull 

 that I wanted. I was much interested, however, in coming 

 up to a cow asleep. She stood with her neck drooping 

 slightly forward, occasionally stamping or twitching an 

 ear, like a horse when asleep standing. I saw her legs first, 

 through the bushes, and finally walked directly up to her in 

 the open, until I stood facing her at thirty yards. When 

 she at last suddenly saw me, she came nearer to the execu- 

 tion of a gambol than any other giraffe I have ever seen. 



Another day we went after buffalo. We left camp be- 

 fore sunrise, riding along parallel to the river to find the 

 spoor of a herd which had drunk and was returning to 

 the haunts, away from the river, in which they here habit- 

 ually spent the day. Two or three hours passed before we 

 found what we sought; and we at once began to follow 

 the trail. It was in open thorn-bush, and the animals were 

 evidently feeding. Before we had followed the spoor half 

 an hour we ran across a rhinoceros. As the spoor led above 

 wind, and as we did not wish to leave it for fear of losing it, 

 Cuninghame stayed where he was, and I moved round to 



