136 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



you to the herd again or some other herd. He will not see the object of 

 laboriously tracking up a wounded animal which may have gone far, when there 

 are other animals easy to get at. The Nandi and Wandorobo, or Ogieg, hunters in 

 the forest do a certain amount of tracking, but in the bush or anywhere outside 

 of their own forests they appear to be quite useless. In the forest no great 

 skill is required, as the tracks are all deep and plainly obvious in the soft 

 mouldy floor of the forest. 



The difference in ages of spoor will not be at first quite apparent to the 

 sportsman in these regions. He who has not before been in this kind of 

 country will find spooring rather different work to that of a drier country, but 

 after a few days' observation little difficulty will be experienced. 



It is quite easy to understand how a Dorobo, who has never done a harder piece 

 of spooring than that of following the deep-cut tracks and line of broken undergrowth 

 made by some forest animal, will not shine at any difficult tracking in the bush or 

 on harder soil. What they are really good at is going softly and quietly in the 

 thickest forest or bush, and for this reason it is a pleasure to hunt with them 

 anywhere. It is advisable to have someone with you when hunting, and a flat- 

 footed, noisy Swahili or Mnyamwezi porter will be found a most trying companion 

 with whom to walk in the bush. 



To return to the matter of tracking. It will often happen that there is 

 some particular animal that you are most anxious to come across, such as a sable, 

 kudu, or oryx. In looking for it you are much more likely to hit upon some part 

 of its night's or morning's spoor than to chance on the animal itself; but having 

 found the spoor and having satisfied yourself that it is that of an adult male, you 

 are almost certain to come up with the animal during the course of the day if you 

 have ability to follow it or have a native with you who can do so. Whether you come 

 up near enough to see it, or only near enough to hear it breaking away, is another 

 matter. 



You will always have a greater chance of getting close to the animal when 

 on its spoor than you will have otherwise, for you will be on the qui vive the whole 

 time and expecting to see the animal momentarily. Moreover, the animal will 

 generally be found to be grazing upwind, and so you will follow him as a rule 

 from downwind, while if the wind is wrong you may to a certain extent avoid the 

 danger of betraying yourself by making detours to hit off the spoor. The spoor 

 itself if closely watched will give you a certain amount of clue as to the 

 neighbourhood of the animal and an idea of how near you are getting to it, so that 

 when you judge that you are close you can take extra precautions. 



