DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 459 



panied by several ewes. We saw them from the boat, but 

 they ran. Cuninghame and I, with Kongoni and Gou- 

 vimali, hunted for them in vain for a couple of hours. Then 

 we met a savage, a very tall, lean Nuer. He was clad in 

 a fawn skin, and carried two spears, one with a bright, 

 sharp, broad-bladed head, the other narrow-headed with 

 villainous barbs. His hair, much longer than that of a 

 west coast negro, was tied back. As we came toward him 

 he stood on one leg, with the other foot resting against it, 

 and, raising his hand, with fingers extended, he motioned 

 to us with what in civilized regions would be regarded as a 

 gesture bidding us halt. But he meant it as a friendly 

 greeting, and solemnly shook hands with all four of us, 

 including the gun-bearers. By signs we made him under- 

 stand that we were after game; so was he; and he led 

 us to the little herd of kob. Kongoni, as usual, saw them 

 before any one else. From an ant-hill I could make out 

 the buck's horns and his white ears, which he was con- 

 tinually flapping at the biting flies that worried him; when 

 he lowered his head I could see nothing. Finally, he looked 

 fixedly at us; he was a hundred and fifty yards off and I 

 had to shoot standing on the peak of the ant-heap, and 

 aim through the grass, guessing where his hidden body 

 might be; and I missed him. At the shot the does went off 

 to the left, but he ran to the right, once or twice leaping 

 high; and when he halted, at less than two hundred yards, 

 although I could still only see his horns, I knew where his 

 body was; and this time I killed him. We gave most of 

 the meat to the Nuer. He was an utterly wild savage, and 

 when Cuninghame suddenly lit a match he was so fright- 

 ened that it was all we could do to keep him from bolting. 



