130 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



A day amongst the inyala in their Reserve, where they 

 are extremely tame and therefore lend themselves to 

 observation, is, to the naturalist, one of the most inter- 

 esting experiences imaginable. The essential point is 

 to get up early enough to be on the ground a little before 

 daybreak. Therefore, the opportunity of spending a 

 few days among them having at last arrived, we over- 

 night instruct the somewhat unreliable Umfundisi, under 

 the alternative of various dire pains and penalties, to 

 call us in the quite small hours. 



We seem hardly to have closed our eyes when we hear 

 the familiar fumbling at the door of the hut, and the 

 now unwelcome voice of our retainer announcing that 

 " the kettle is boiling." We strike a light and look at 

 our watch. " Three o'clock," and, sunrise not being 

 until seven, there is not the smallest necessity to be astir 

 for two hours yet. Verily Umfundisi has, native like, 

 "got his own back" this time. It is perfectly certain 

 that, if we obey our present impulse to order him away 

 and compose ourselves for another hour or two between 

 the blankets, nothing short of an earthquake will arouse 

 him a second time ; and so we light the lamp and give 

 various elaborate and unnecessary orders about breakfast, 

 with the object of keeping him employed. We also 

 instruct him to go and see that the guide is on the premises 

 according to .instructions, and has not to be extracted 

 from his kraal a mile away. 



And so the time slowly passes, and 5 A.M. sees us 

 marching down the road in the dense darkness which 

 precedes early cock-crow. The morning air strikes chill, 

 and a thick coat and muffler are necessary luxuries. 

 On each side of the wagon track the bush rises like a 

 solid black wall, and there is at this, the stillest hour of 

 the night, little to catch the ear but the noise of the 



