TO THE UASIN GISHU 



335 



bull, one on each flank, and started him toward camp, 

 which was about five miles from where the hunt began. 

 Two or three times he came to a standstill, and turned first 

 toward one and then toward the other of his pursuers, 

 almost as if he meditated a charge; but they shouted at 

 him and he resumed his flight. They brought him within 

 three hundred yards of camp, and then Kermit leaped off 

 and finished him. 



This bull was a fine specimen, colored almost exactly 

 like the giraffes of the Athi and Sotik, but with much more 

 horn development. I doubt whether this five-horned kind 

 is more than a local race. The bulls have been described 

 as very dark; but the one thus shot, a big and old master 

 bull, was unusually light, and in the herd there were individ- 

 uals of every shade, much the darkest being a rather small 

 cow. Indeed, in none of the varieties of giraffe did we find 

 that the old bulls were markedly darker than the others; 

 many of them were dark, but some of the biggest were light- 

 colored, and the darkest individuals in a herd were often 

 cows. Giraffes, by the way, do sometimes lie down to 

 sleep, but not often.* 



In order that Heller might take care of the giraffe skin 

 we had to spend a couple of days where we were then 

 camped. The tents were pitched near a spring of good 

 water, beside a slight valley in which there were marshy 



* This is just one of the points as to which no one observer should dogmatize or 

 try to lay down general laws with no exceptions. Moreover, the personal equation 

 of even the most honest observer must always be taken into account in considering 

 not merely matters like this, but even such things as measurements. For example, 

 Neuman, in his "Elephant Hunting," gives measurements of the height of both 

 elephants and Grevy's zebra; our measurements made the elephants taller, and the 

 big zebras less tall, than he found them. Measurements of the lengths of lions, 

 made by different observers, are for this reason rarely of much value for purposes 

 of comparison. 



