366 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



Delamere's brother-in-law. They took eight porters and 

 went into the forest accompanied by four 'Ndorobo. They 

 marched straight up to the bamboo and yellow-wood for- 

 est near the top of the Mau escarpment. They spent five 

 days hunting. The procedure was simply to find the trail 

 of a herd, to follow it through the tangled woods as rapidly 

 and noiselessly as possible until it was overtaken, and then 

 to try to get a shot at the first patch of reddish hide of 

 which they got a glimpse for they never saw more than 

 such a patch, and then only for a moment. The first 

 day Kermit, firing at such a patch, knocked over the ani- 

 mal; but it rose and the tracks were so confused that even 

 the keen eyes of the wild men could not pick out the right 

 one. Next day they again got into a herd; this time Ker- 

 mit was the first to see the game all that was visible 

 being a patch of reddish, the size of a man's two hands, 

 with a white stripe across it. Firing he killed the animal; 

 but it proved to be only half grown. Even the 'Ndorobo 

 now thought it useless to follow the herd; but Kermit 

 took one of them and started in pursuit. After a couple 

 of hours' trailing the herd was again overtaken, and again 

 Kermit got a glimpse of the animals. He hit two; and 

 selecting the trail with most blood they followed it for three 

 or four miles, until Kermit overtook and finished off the 

 wounded bongo, a fine cow. 



Kermit always found them lying up during the middle 

 of the day and feeding in the morning and afternoon ; other- 

 wise his observations of their habits coincided with mine. 



The next ten days Kermit spent in a trip to the coast, 

 near Mombasa, for sable the most beautiful antelope next 

 to the koodoo. The cows and bulls are red, the very old 



