THE GUASO NYERO 



343 



increase has been rapid. Unlike the slow-breeding ele- 

 phant and rhinoceros, buffalo multiply apace, like domes- 

 tic cattle, and in many places the herds have now become 

 too numerous. Their rapid recovery from a calamity so 

 terrific is interesting and instructive.* Doubtless for many 

 years after man, in recognizably human form, appeared on 

 this planet, he played but a small part in the destruction 

 of big animals, compared to plague, to insect pests and 



A domesticated young male eland at Meru 

 From a photograph by Edmund Heller 



microbes, to drought, flood, earth upheaval, and change of 

 temperature. But during the geological moment covering 

 the few thousand years of recorded history man has been 

 not merely the chief, but practically the sole factor in the 

 extermination of big mammals and birds. 



At and near Meru boma we spent a fortnight hunting 

 elephant and rhinoceros, as described in the preceding 

 chapter. While camped by the boma white-necked vultu- 



*On our trip along the Guaso Nyero we heard that there had been a fresh out- 

 break of rinderpest among the buffalo; I hope it will not prove such a hideous 

 disaster. 



