cHAi". XXIX KUDU HUNTING 329 



first blood of an animal which had been killed, but that 

 a greater man than he had claimed it, and so had robbed 

 him of the honour and glory that were his due, and of the 

 privilege of wearing an ear-ring, which only an elephant- 

 slayer is allowed and which it is the dearest wish of every 

 Abyssinian to possess. He begged to be allowed to 

 accompany me, promising only to shoot when I permitted 

 him. At first I suspected him of being a spy, but I 

 ended by giving him leave to come. Soon after we had 

 started next morning, my men pointed out a greater 

 kudu skull by the wayside, calling it agazin, which 

 proved that this was the name for the larger species of 

 the kudu, and not for the lesser, as I had been led to 

 think, and also that the animal really existed in the district. 

 We passed several water-holes with a good many oribi 

 standing near them, and twice disturbed bushbuck. We 

 intended to camp that night near a large pool called 

 Chuowkar, but pushed on beyond, and finally halted 

 at the edge of a hill. Here I sat down with the glasses 

 and soon espied across the valley a tora, one of a herd of 

 fourteen ; but, to my disgust, they shortly afterwards 

 bolted. A heavy shower of rain drove us to seek the 

 shelter of some large boulders with which the hill-side 

 was strewn, but, when the w^eather cleared the shikari 

 made out a kudu cow feeding on a distant hill-top. We 

 started off for the place, but as the herd proved only 

 cows, with but one young bull, we marched back to 

 camp, by the pool, where I heard that during the rain- 

 storm my men had allowed five of the mules to stray. 

 These were not recovered for two days, having made a 

 bee-line back to the higher ground. 



