CHAPTER VI. - 



AFTER ROAN ANTELOPE. 



SAND MYSELF left the fort on July 14th, to try for roan antelope and 

 . other game. The roan is not very common in Nyasaland although it is found 

 in great numbers in the adjacent territory of North-Eastern Rhodesia. 

 Having sent the tents and other gear ahead we struck through the bush, taking 

 different directions. As I went along I noticed much spoor of eland, roan, hartebeest, 

 reedbuck, etc., but it was not until I left the thick bush and came out on a dambo 

 that I got a chance of shooting anything. 



Here I saw a large herd of hartebeest feeding, so I stalked to within seventy 

 yards behind a big ant-hill. 



Picking out the two biggest bulls, I killed them with a bullet each. They had 

 good heads, one being over 2oin. and the other ip^in. After cutting ofT the heads 

 and arranging for the meat to be brought to camp, I started off and reached the tent 

 at 5.30 p.m. 



Next morning S. and myself went out to try and find roan, but I could not find 

 any of them, or spoor fresh enough to follow. Having changed camp to Lepenga's 

 village, about three miles from the Bua stream, my friend and I hunted the country 

 hard. One day I had a shot at a roan, but missed him. The Bua was a sluggish 

 stream and looked more like a swamp. There were hippo here, and I shot one while 

 standing up to the waist in water. This was a foolish proceeding, for when I got my 

 hippo ashore I found his hide covered with scars, inflicted after he was dead by the 

 numerous crocodiles that infest this stream. In getting the hippo ashore an old man 

 was nearly drowned, having got his arms and legs entangled in the sedgy grass of 

 which the stream was full. S. left for Fort Manning on July 17th, having to get 

 back to duty, so I stayed out by myself. Early next morning I was on the tramp 

 again and wounded a waterbuck which I lost. In a dambo, seeing two warthog I 

 fired at one and hit it hard, and found it dead after following for a short distance. 

 After cutting it up we went into a dambo, and I sat down and looked around for game 

 with the glasses. After a time I noticed a herd of game feeding about a mile away, 

 so went closer to find out what they were. On getting within a quarter of a m.ile 

 I saw they were roan, so I prepared to try to shoot one. The dambo in this part 



F 



