192 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



skins and meat. I had killed these two eland bulls, as well 

 as the buck gazelle (bringing down each with a single bullet) 

 within three-quarters of an hour after leaving camp. 



I wanted a topi, and continued the hunt. The coun- 

 try swarmed with the herds and flocks of the Masai, who 

 own a wealth of live stock. Each herd of cattle and don- 

 keys or flock of sheep was guarded by its herdsmen; bands 

 of stalwart, picturesque warriors, with their huge spears 

 and ox-hide shields, occasionally strolled by us; and we 

 passed many bomas, the kraals where the stock is gathered 

 at night, with the mud huts of the owners ringing them. Yet 

 there was much game in the country also, chiefly zebra and 

 hartebeest; the latter, according to their custom, contin- 

 ually jumping up on ant-hills to get a clearer view of me, 

 and sometimes standing on them motionless for a consider- 

 able time, as sentries to scan the country around. 



At last we spied a herd of topi, distinguishable from 

 the hartebeest at a very long distance by their dark coloring, 

 the purples and browns giving the coat a heavy shading 

 which when far off, in certain lights, looks almost black. 

 Topi, hartebeest, and wildebeest belong to the same group, 

 and are specialized, and their peculiar physrcal and men- 

 tal traits developed, in the order named. The wildebeest 

 is the least normal and most grotesque and odd-looking of 

 the three, and his idiosyncrasies of temper are also the 

 most marked. The hartebeest comes next, with his very 

 high withers, long face, and queerly shaped horns; while 

 the topi, although with a general hartebeest look, has the 

 features of shape and horn less pronounced, and bears a 

 greater resemblance to his more ordinary kinsfolk. In the 

 same way, though it will now and then buck and plunge 

 when it begins to run after being startled, its demeanor is less 

 pronounced in this respect. The topi's power of leaping is 

 great; I have seen one when frightened bound clear over a 

 companion, and immediately afterward over a high ant-hill. 



The herd of topi we saw was more shy than the neigh- 

 boring zebra and hartebeest. There was no cover and I 



