258 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



it had eaten some poisonous plant, or some one had hurt it, 

 I do not know. 



Such young ones, as are allowed to run about free in 

 some of the up-country stations, thrive very well indeed, and 

 have been successfully reared. They breed in captivity, and 

 become very tame ; in fact, they are apt to become too 

 cheeky. " Billy," the pet Thomsonii at Fort Smith, has been 

 an inmate for some years, and, as familiarity breeds contempt, 

 he goes for natives without having received any provocation. 

 I have seen brave Masai warriors edge sideways out of the fort 

 in a hurry, when master " Billy " has been on the war-path. 

 The captive Thomsonii appear to relish the leaves of the 

 sweet-potato plant. 



There is a great difference in the horns between the male 

 and the female. The horns of the buck curve upward and 

 backward, and then bend slightly forward, terminating in a 

 very sharp and dangerous point. The last two inches near 

 the tip are smooth, but the rest of the horn has the charac- 

 teristic " rings." In some of the specimens I have shot, 

 the horns diverge ; in others they seem to run almost 

 parallel. The horns of the female are tiny, compared with 

 those of the male. They are short and slender, and lack the 

 "rings." In two of the specimens I shot, one of the horns was 

 deformed. 



The skin of the Thomsonii, dressed and mounted, makes a 

 very pretty mat. Owing to the abdomen being white, the mat 

 has a white border. The back is a dark tan, which shades into 

 a light brown at the flanks, where a characteristic dark brown 

 stripe borders the white abdomen. A similar dark brown but 

 short line fringes, at a little distance from the tail, each 

 hind-quarter. I cannot remember having seen anywhere else 

 so many Thomsonii gazelles as I saw on my third journey at 

 Lake Naivasha, on the west side of the lake. The usual 

 caravan route is along the east shore, but incessant rains 

 had rendered the Morendat and Gilgil rivers, which flow into 

 Lake Naivasha, impassable for our caravan, and we were 

 compelled to try the west route. Both these rivers are now 

 bridged, being part of the new caravan cart-road, on which so 

 much money has been expended. 



The Grantii gazelle is a handsome animal of a delicate fawn 

 colour. In the Thomsonii the tan colour reaches right up to the 



