30 After Big Game in Central Africa 



knew exactly where the hunter was if only he re- 

 mained motionless. 



I killed successively in a few days bubalis, zebras, 

 nswalas, and an eland. 1 The latter was killed under 

 circumstances which showed the value of my new 

 rifle in regard to range and precision. 



It was in the neighbourhood of Nant'ana, where 

 elands are rather rare. One morning I saw one of 

 them on a grassy plain more than four hundred yards 

 away. 



It saw us immediately, and began to look fixedly 

 at the spot where we had suddenly crouched down 

 in the grass as soon as we perceived ourselves dis- 

 covered. I resolved to do everything possible to try 

 my new rifle on this magnificent animal. The eland 

 is the largest of antelopes, reaching the corpulence of 

 one of our oxen and the height of a guardsman's 

 horse. It was necessary to approach him ; but that 

 was no easy matter. Examining the surroundings, I 

 found that there was a small clump of trees on our 

 right, and about two hundred yards behind him. 

 I waited until his suspicions were set at rest, and 

 he was eating; then I began to describe, by walk- 

 ing on all fours, the large circuit which I had 

 to make. It took me a long time to reach the 

 prolongation of the line formed by the animal and 

 the clump of trees. Once shielded from his eyes, 

 thanks to this natural screen, I reached the foot of the 

 clump ; but once there, it was impossible to go any 



1 For a description of these animals, see Mes Grandes Chasses, 

 pp. 107, 25, 101, 299. 



