40 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



usually seen in couples, although one sometimes sees from 

 three to five of each species together. The medium and 

 smaller sized antelopes do not seem to care to intermingle 

 with other species as do sable, hartebeest, gnu, and zebras. 



Perhaps the most companionable antelope is the harte- 

 beest, and solitary bull gnus are also fond of seeking the 

 company of a herd of hartebeests, as I have noticed on 

 several occasions. 



On the gth I wounded a bull roan, and although I tried my 

 best to find it I was unsuccessful, as I lost the spoor on 

 some hard ground, for the animal began to walk slowly and 

 leave very shallow impressions behind. 



Being unwell on the following day, I sent out a man 

 named Zovi with some other men to look for the roan, as 

 he had been with me when I hit it and knew where to go. 

 They found it and finished it with a few spear thrusts, so I 

 only kept the hind legs, skin, and head, and gave the natives 

 the rest of the meat. 



At this time I was collecting blood smears of game for 

 the Sleeping Sickness Commission, which had a big camp at 

 Kasu Hill, away to the south ; and for this purpose I had got 

 permission to shoot game above the number allowed on my 

 licence. However, I did not need to shoot much extra game, 

 and I only did so when I got into other parts of the country 

 where there was a better chance of finding parasites in the 

 blood of the game. As there were few tsetse flies in this 

 locality, it was most improbable that any parasites of sleep- 

 ing sickness would be found in the blood of game here; and 

 so it proved, for all the slides I sent to Sir David Bruce 

 were found to be free of trypanosomes. 



In taking blood smears it is usual to take two from each 

 animal. One is called a thin smear and the other a thick 

 smear. To take the former a drop of blood about the size 

 of a S.S.G. shot is dropped on one end of the slide, and 

 with the smooth edge of another slide this is flattened and 

 spread on the glass. A larger drop of blood is used for the 

 thick smear, and it is allowed to partially dry before rubbing, 

 so that it will be thicker in form. 



