HUNTING IN THE MOUNTAINS 



game is, however, very shy, and I was only able to 

 kill one large antelope. 



Happily my journey was not unimportant from a 

 scientific standpoint, as I was enabled to increase my 

 collections. 



We returned to our camp at Muza in time to 

 experience a violent storm. The mountain-sides are 

 changed into torrents and the water dashes into our 

 hut. A river flows under our bed. At the beginning 

 of this waterspout we put our baggage in safety, but 

 this alarm has warned me of the danger there would be 

 in passing the rainy season in this place. 



In reality if one comes here during the months of 

 October, November and December, which form the 

 spring, or rainy season, when nature awakes, hunting 

 and getting about are still possible throughout that 

 period. The summer, namely in January, February, 

 and March, is the time of the great rains and floods, 

 and of great vegetable growth, caused by the terrible 

 heat. It is a time of forced inaction for the explorer, 

 unless he wishes to hunt the great pachyderms and 

 buffalo. The autumn, that is April, May, and June, 

 brings a cooling of the nocturnal temperature. The 

 grasses ripen, the foliage turns yellow, and the rivers 

 return to their beds ; this is the fever-season, and 

 the time when lions are most dangerous. The last 

 quarter brings winter, with the dryness that arrests 

 the growth of vegetation, is favourable for bush-fires, 

 and facilitates hunting and travelling. 



(19) 



