124 



AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



rado was three times the weight. Yet I have never heard 

 of any cougar which displayed anything like the spirit 

 and ferocity of this little leopard, or which in any way 

 approached it as a dangerous foe. It was sent back to 

 camp in company with the wounded beater, after the 

 wounds of the latter had been dressed; they were not seri- 

 ous, and he was speedily as well 

 as ever. 



The rivers that bounded Juja 

 Farm, not only the Athi, but the 

 Nairobi and Rewero, contained 

 hippopotami and crocodiles in 

 the deep pools. I was particu- 

 larly anxious to get one of the 

 former, and early one morning 

 Judd and I rode off across the 

 plains, through the herds of graz- 

 ing game seen dimly in the dawn, 

 to the Athi. We reached the 

 river, and, leaving our horses, 

 went down into the wooded bot- 

 tom, soon after sunrise. Judd 

 had with him a Masai, a keen- 

 eyed hunter, and I my two gun- 

 bearers. We advanced with the 

 utmost caution toward the brink 

 of a great pool; on our way we 

 saw a bushbuck, but of course did not dare to shoot at it, 

 for hippopotami are wary, except in very unfrequented 

 regions, and any noise will disturb them. As we crept 

 noiselessly up to the steep bank which edged the pool, the 

 sight was typically African. On the still water floated a 

 crocodile, nothing but his eyes and nostrils visible. The 

 bank was covered with a dense growth of trees, festooned 

 with vines; among the branches sat herons; a little cormo- 

 rant dived into the water; and a very small and brilliantly 

 colored kingfisher, with a red beak and large turquoise 



Native boy carrying in a leopard 

 shot by Kermit Roosevelt near 

 Juja Ranch 

 From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 



