i8 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



falls an easy prey to the pot-hunter. Partridges roost by 

 preference in the branches of some moderate -sized bush ; 

 they too betray their presence at dawn and sunset with their 

 "ka! kaka!" scream. I have seen guinea-fowls clustering 

 together by the hundred ; for instance at Kariandus and on the 

 north-west shore of Lake Naivasha, where 1 bagged three with 

 one shot. 



At Kariandus the guinea-fowl— it was on my third journey — 

 gave us once a useful warning of the approach of a man-eating lion 

 which infested the neighbourhood at the time and had carried 

 off more than one porter from some of the other caravans. 

 The scream of the frightened birds attracted our attention to 

 the spot, some four hundred yards off, on the slope of the hill. 

 I only caught a glimpse of a huge tawny animal disappearing 

 with a bound behind some bushes, whilst a few more of the 

 frightened birds flew up out of the grass into the trees. All my 

 men declared it was a lion. We did not stop to investigate ; 

 as it was getting dusk, we hurried off to get within the protecting 

 circle of the camp-fires. 



Swahili porters are very fond of zebra meat. Some travellers 

 have a natural prejudice to eating an animal belonging to the 

 equine species ; but the first zebra-steak I tasted I thought 

 rather nice ; perhaps the animal I had shot was not a parti- 

 cularly old one. A tough old stallion is certainly not a very 

 inviting dish. 



I once saw on the Athi plains a herd of zebras, which must 

 have numbered over a hundred thousand ; for, as far as the eye 

 could reach, they presented a dense unbroken phalanx, with 

 young ones by the hundred amongst them. I have never come 

 across any other species but the one known as Burchell's zebra. 

 There is no greater risk of exterminating the zebra by shooting 

 one now and again for caravan or personal need, than there 

 is of wiping off the hartebeest antelope by occasionally bagging 

 one. But I once came across a Eurasian on his way to the 

 coast, who shot a zebra apparently for no other purpose but 

 to brag that he had shot one. I asked him whether he re- 

 quired the meat for food for himself or his caravan. He 

 answered, " No " ; and when I said, " Perhaps you wanted it for 

 its hide ? " he again replied, ** No." Such men must have a 

 very callous conscience. The zebra has a peculiar cry which 

 sounds like " Yap, yap, yap " ; it has neither the horse's neigh 



