ON SAFARI. RHINO AND GIRAFFE 



113 



their beautifully striped bodies showing finely in the sun- 

 light. We scanned the country round about with our 

 glasses, and made out first a herd of elands, a mile in 

 our rear, and then three giraffes a mile and a half in our 

 front. I wanted a bull eland, but I wanted a giraffe still 

 more, and we mounted 

 our horses and rode tow- 

 ard where the three tall 

 beasts stood, on an open 

 hill-side with trees thinly 

 scattered over it. Half a 

 mile from them we left 

 the horses in a thick belt 

 of timber beside a dry 

 watercourse, and went 

 forward on foot. 



There was no use in 

 trying a stalk, for that 

 would merely have 

 aroused the giraffe's sus- 

 picion. But we knew 

 they were accustomed to 

 the passing and repassing 

 of Wakamba men and 

 women, whom they did 

 not fear if they kept at 

 a reasonable distance, so 

 we walked in single file 

 diagonally in their direc- 

 tion; that is, toward a tree which I judged to be about 

 three hundred yards from them. I was carrying the Win- 

 chester loaded with full metal-patched bullets. I wished to 

 get for the museum both a bull and a cow. One of the 

 three giraffes was much larger than the other two, and as 

 he was evidently a bull I thought the two others were cows. 



As we reached the tree the giraffes showed symptoms 

 of uneasiness. One of the smaller ones began to make off, 



Masai Elmoran, Machakos road station 

 From a photograph by Edmund Helle* 



