PROWLERS OF THE PLAINS 65 



Those without tails were animals which had first 

 been found by natives who had availed themselves of 

 this gift of Providence, by staking out their claims. 

 The savages hereabouts know httle concerning white 

 men and try to avoid them whenever possible, so that 

 our appearance on the scene had caused them to hide 

 in the bush. As soon as we left they would drive the 

 vultures away and start cutting the meat into long 

 strips to be hung in the sun to dry. Fresh zebra meat 

 and meat dried in this form seem to be the principal 

 food of the Ikoma, and I got so I could tell them 

 from other natives by their pecuhar odor, due, no 

 doubt, to tliis constant diet. Zebra flesh has a sick- 

 ening sweet smell. 



All of this time we had been making pictures and 

 nobody was paying much attention to our directions. 

 In fact we had twisted and turned so many times that 

 it was hard to tell where we were. All of this country 

 looks more or less ahke, and once you lose your way, 

 the tiling is hopeless. After wandering around for 

 about thirty miles, we came to a spring of clear, sweet 

 water hidden away in a smaU, rocky donga. We had 

 discovered it from far off in the distance, for although 

 it was on the side of a barren hill, many green trees 

 and several beautiful ivory palms surrounded the re- 

 freshing pool. 



Upon arrival there we found it to be a favorite 

 drinking place for Uons. Their tracks were thick on 

 the trails leading to the water. It is very probable 

 that no white man had ever been to this donga before, 

 although we did find an old camp which had been 

 abandoned long since by natives. Possibly they 

 couldn't hold their own against the many hons and 



