CHAPTER XXII. 



A TYPICAL DAY IN THE "GUBBA." 



A BRILLIANT suii Stirred my activities the next 

 morning and dispelled the preceding day's gloom 

 and rain. I delayed striking the tents in order to 

 dry them a bit, as everything was soaking. 



I felt very fit; and instructing my "safari" to 

 go to Kirkoma, about twenty miles on, I went into 

 the •' gubba " to look for buffalo. I may say I rather 

 anticipated a long day, but not quite so bad as it 

 eventually turned out. For the first five hours we 

 had a path absolutely ankle deep in water the whole 

 way, but still a path. We saw nothing but Kongoni 

 buck. Then my guides advised me to leave the 

 native track to explore some thickets about two 

 valleys farther along. The grass was simply 

 terrible. I felt as if I were walking on a beach 

 in two feet of water, having to raise my foot each 

 step as if bicycling, which is the most tiring 

 business I know. After some two miles of this I 

 suddenly made out five beasts, such as I had never 

 seen before. Behind them trotted two small zebra. 

 I instinctively seized my rifle, when my guide 

 stopped me by saying the big white man at 

 Masaka had forbidden it. I then realized that 

 the game must be eland. Their leader was a 



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