64 THE LAND OF THE LION 
shoot one or two of those picturesque but most useless, 
and from a farmer’s point of view most destructive, zebra; 
but spare a rifle shot near the lake, and so do what little 
you can to preserve for others the beautiful sight which game 
approaching water affords. Here, if they are undisturbed, 
the wild things of the veldt will still come for years, in great 
numbers and wonderful variety. Game is quick to dis- 
cover and appreciate a sanctuary, however small. At 
Laikipia boma large herds may always be seen. The 
commissioner has requested sefaris not to shoot close by, 
and though a great number of hunting camps are pitched 
there, his wishes have been respected. At Laikipia I rode 
close to a herd of twenty fine eland, that were peacefully 
grazing with the commissioner’s cows. 
When in May last I came to Sergoit, five thousand head 
of game must have been visible at one time to the naked eye. 
Oraby bounded away as only oraby can, with long, spring- 
ing leaps, and a fling-back of the hind legs, thrown in just 
for the fun of the thing. Steinbuck dashed off, without 
so much leaping, but quite as fast. Jackson’s hartebeest 
(a very fine antelope, indeed, not to be confounded with 
Coke’s hartebeest, the common kongoni of the more south- 
ern country) in vast numbers dotted the whole land, and 
sentinel bucks kept watch on every high ant hill. A band 
of stately eland trotted steadily away, the bull bringing 
up the rear. Waterbuck waded in the lake’s margin, and 
dikerbuck jumped up at your feet, where the grass grew long 
among the ruins of the stone kraals of the perished Sarequa.* 
A few miles farther north, where the thorn trees were 
filling the air with their heavy perfume, several herds of 
giraffe ranged slowly, remaining in the same neighbourhood 
for weeks together. 
Among the cliffs and steep glens of Cherangang to the 
* A large and prosperous tribe once inhabiting the plateau. They alone of East Africans built 
themselves stone kraals. They seem to have perished utterly about one hundred years ago. 
