THE GALEGU 235 



5 inches. The rest of the day was spent skinning 

 and cutting up the carcase, not a particle of flesh 

 being left for the vultures. 



May 10th. Spent an exhausting and uninteresting 

 day attending to the trophies of the hippo, i.e. the 

 four feet, mask, hide, and skull. My live stock was 

 increased yesterday by a young reedbuck or oribi, 

 which I bought from a boy for a dollar. 



May llth. At 11 p.m., the moon being near the 

 full, I heard a crackling in the reeds on the other side 

 of the Binder, and with my glasses was able to see 

 half a dozen buffaloes feeding. In the early morning 

 we took up the trail, which showed that the herd con- 

 sisted of fully thirty animals. The tracks led mainly 

 through open ground, and after a couple of hours we 

 saw the buffaloes among the trees a quarter of a mile 

 ahead. The ground was most unfavourable for stalk- 

 ing, there being no grass or undergrowth, and a 

 possibility of cutting across the front of the herd in 

 the direction in which it was travelling was spoiled by 

 six or eight giraffes, which at once detected us and 

 made off, causing the buffaloes to take a new direction. 

 We then followed the herd until it halted for the day 

 at 11 a.m., in a place where there was literally no 

 cover but two or three uprooted mimosas and a few 

 other small trees. To make matters worse the herd 

 was much scattered, while a few individuals, all, 



