With Flashliht and Rifle 





white-bearded gnus to Kurope in the year 1900 for 

 the first time. Through the friendly offices of Captain 

 Murker, I succeeded in British East Africa in getti no- 

 hold of two bulls and a cow aged about two years. In 

 the company of two cows these gnus followed my caravan 

 to the coast, and I succeeded in getting them safely to 

 Germany. It was not easy to get them across the river ; 

 they had to be driven in by force, and manoeuvred across 

 with the help of ropes. One of the bulls I presented to 

 the Berlin Zoological Gardens, and it was my hope to use 

 the other two animals for breeding purposes. 



They used at first to run about quite freely over the 

 paddock in Weiherhof. I had had the dagger-like horns 

 of the bull somewhat shortened on taking him out of the 

 cage in which we had brought him over, and which I had 

 fashioned, with the help of my taxidermist, out of some 

 old fencing-wood that we had bought at Pangani. A 

 well-known horse-trainer willingly took charge of these 

 queer strangers. Judging them naturally from a utili- 

 tarian point of view, he exclaimed : " These are good little 

 beasts," but he very soon changed his mind as to the 

 character of the animals. One day he absolutely refused 

 to go within the enclosure in which his charges were 

 kept, which was part of his duties. " I'll never call them 

 good little beasts again," he said. " They are devils. 

 The wife is good enough, but the husband is the very 

 devil himself." 



I had been away for several days, but I thought now 

 I would deal with the animals myself. Armed with a 

 long whip I undertook to drive back the bull, which was 



488 



