Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



After I had thus enticed the chief and his 

 followers many miles out from his capital, I relented 

 and released his man on the condition that the 

 money stolen was immediately repaid to my porter, 

 and that the chief himself should have the man 

 beaten on his return to Kijamba. I have no doubt 

 the last stipulation was obeyed to the letter, con- 

 siderinof the amount of trouble and undue exercise 

 to which the headman had been treated. 



No further incident of note marked the even 

 tenor of the rest of my " safari " back to Mbarara. 



On the morning of the last day's march I deter- 

 mined to try my .577 rifle with a long shot. I had 

 only used it on one occasion since I had bought it 

 second-hand from an elephant-hunter whom I had 

 met on his way down to the coast from the Congo 

 to embark for England. 



The road at this stage of the journey passes 

 over a flat plain, which is the haunt of myriads of 

 buck of the specimen known as topi, and exceedingly 

 common in that district. The topi may be described 

 as a smaller species of hartebeeste, although differ- 

 ing widely in the shape of its head and its horns ; 

 the head is shorter, and the horns are heavily ringed 

 and curve gracefully backwards. They are usually 

 found in big herds of a dozen or so, and the great 

 difficulty is to pick out the males, as the heads 

 carried by the cows appear in the distance almost 

 identical, although in reality the horns of the males 

 are thicker. They are evidently bitten with extreme 

 curiosity, and having grown accustomed, I suppose, 



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