194 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



Wherever we looked there was game game in 

 herds, battalions and individuals, stretching away 

 in thousands over to the billowing uplands. One 

 herd of five hundred Zebra were at the moment 

 emerging from the open forest on our left, and 

 the whole country seemed to be moving with animals 

 attracted by the succulent pasture. 



" Did you ever see more game, Judd ? " I 

 asked. 



" Well," he replied, " I have often seen as much 

 down here, but never more." 



" Let us count for a bit," I suggested, and we each 

 took an area for a different front, with the result 

 that in half an hour our total was nine thousand 

 head. 1 



But let us return to my ant-heap, where I sat 

 entranced for an hour, enjoying for the first time 

 in life Africa's Wonderland of Game. About 200 

 yards away were a small herd of Coke's Hartebeest, 

 here somewhat uncommon. To the right were no 

 fewer than three large herds of Pallah, one of which 

 numbered over a hundred animals, feeding along the 

 edge of the bush that fringed the denser forest 

 towards the river. To the south, as far as the 

 thorn-trees that blocked the horizon line, were 

 hundreds of Topi, glistening now brown, now purple 

 in the evening sun. In the centre stood an old 

 Waterbuck bull, and on the left were three large 

 herds of White-bearded Gnu, flanked by numerous 

 Thomson's Gazelle and scattered Zebras. It was 



1 This, it must be remembered, was purely the amount of 

 game actually under view. There must have been many 

 hundreds hidden under shoulders of the ground and lying 

 scattered in the open bush. 



