CHAPTER XVIIT. 



THE n'gOBAI and THE ADJACENT COUNTRY. 



" Afar in the desert I love to ride, 

 With the silent bush-boy alone by my side — 

 Away, away from the dwellings of men, 

 By the antelope's haunt, and the buffalo's glen ; 

 By valleys remote where the ourebi plays, 

 Where the gnoo, the sassaybe and hartebest graze, 

 And the eland and gemsbok unhunted recline 

 By the skirts of gray forests o'erhung with wild vine ; 

 Where the elephant browses at peace in his wood, 

 And the river-horse gambols unscared in the flood. 

 And the mighty rhinoceros wallows at will. 

 In the pool where the wild ass is drinking his fill." 



Pringle. 



The route. — A herd of wild cattle.— A M'niare bull. — Different 

 aspects of the forest. — The N'gobai. — N'jomba. — A herd of 

 hippopotami. — A battue. — African hospitality. — News of 

 gorillas. — Gorilla hunting.— Other game. — Fever. — A retro- 

 grade movement. — Treachery and its punishment. — A fatal 

 blow. — Eeturn to Glass. 



After an early breakfast, we left Gallenja-bah as 

 day was breaking, and, marching in Indian file^ 



