ANTELOPES 295 



ing and covered with open thorn bush, the ground in many 

 places was very rough and stony, and, to add to the discomforts 

 of the stalk, carpeted with a creeping plant, the long ten- 

 drils of which were covered with large and very hard seeds 

 with sharp spikes on them. These seeds, whichever way they 

 lay on the ground, always had ,1 spike uppermost which went 

 completely through coat-sleeves and breeches when crawling up 

 to game. I was returning to camp about midday, feeling rather 

 disappointed at having wounded and lost a fine bull oryx, when 

 I saw the herd standing in an open space surrounded by thin 

 bush. As there was an ' earth boil ' close by, I walked partly up it 

 to reconnoitre the country, and saw that immediately to leeward 

 of the herd, about 100 yards off, there was a clump of table- 

 topped mimosa-trees ; but between the edge of the bush and this 

 clump, a distance of 200 yards, there was absolutely no covert 

 with the exception of one or two stunted shrubs and a few large 

 stones. Seeing that a long and very hot crawl was my only 

 chance, I went round, keeping out of sight in the bush, and got 

 the clump between myself and the oryx, when I began quite 

 the most painful and trying stalk I have ever made. I 

 started by crawling on hands and knees from bush to bush until 

 I arrived at the last outlying one, and was rejoiced on looking 

 round it to find that the greater part of the herd had lain down. I 

 then knew that I had plenty of time before me. The ground be- 

 tween myself and the clump, with the exception of one small bush 

 some twenty yards on my side of it, was so bare that it seemed 

 almost hopeless to attempt to get over it without being seen. 

 However, I decided to try, and, leaving my gun-bearer behind 

 the bush, began crawling slowly forward flat on my stomach. 

 At every movement several of the sharp-spiked seeds penetrated 

 through my breeches and coat-sleeves, causing me considerable 

 pain ; moreover, as they stuck to the cloth, it was necessary to 

 brush them off every two or three yards no easy matter in my 

 position. To make things still more discomforting, the heat 

 reflected from the hard stony ground was almost unbearable. 

 On reaching a large stone I was tempted to risk a shot, at 



