In Wildest Africa ^ 



localities with them, and seem to exchange warnings 

 of coming danger. A francolin flies up in front of 

 us with a clatter of wings, reminding one very much 

 of our own beautiful heath-cock. The " cliff-springer " 

 that miniature African chamois, one of the loveliest 

 of all the denizens of the wilderness, sometimes puts in 

 an appearance too. It is a mystery how it manages 

 to dart about from ridge to ridge as lightly as an india- 

 rubber ball. If you examine through your field-glasses, 

 you discover to your astonishment that they do not 

 rest on their dainty hoofs like others of their kind, nor 

 can they move about on them in the same fashion. They 

 can only stand on the extreme points of them. It looks 

 almost as though nature were trying to free a mammal 

 from its bonds to mother earth, when you see the " cliff- 

 springer " fly through the air from rock to rock. It would 

 not astonish you to find that it had wings. Now here, 

 now there, you hear its note of alarm, and then catch 

 sight of it. It would be difficult to descry these animals 

 at all, only that there are generally several of them 

 together. . . . Deep-trodden paths of elephants and 

 rhinoceroses cut through the wooded wilderness ; paths 

 used also by the heavy elands, which are fitted for 

 existence alike in the deep valleys and high up on the 

 highest mountain. I myself found their tracks at a height 

 of over 6,000 feet, and so have all African mountain-climbers 

 worthy of the name, from Hans Meyer, the first man to 

 ascend Kilimanjaro, down to Uhlig, who, on the occasion 

 of his latest expedition up to the Kibo, noted the presence 

 of this giant among antelopes at a height of 15,000 feet. 



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