" Pookoos " and " Letchwes v 201 



meeting with them, first of all because I have never 

 killed one, and then to show one of them to my men. 



Among my new assistants I notice one who appears 

 to know his business well. He is a man who can 

 read a spoor admirably, climb a tree and descend 

 quicker than a monkey, and moves through the grass 

 like a snake. He has the reputation of having 

 killed giraffes, and of being acquainted with their 

 habits. 



As a fairly large company of elephants frequent the 

 district regularly, probably because the natives have 

 no firearms, we have a double chance of success. I 

 notice also two species of antelopes, which are new 

 to us, "pookoos" (cobus vardoni], and "letchwes" 

 (cobus leche), both varieties of water-bucks, the first 

 small and broad-backed, the size of a light-bay ass, 

 the other gray, with a white stomach, and their horns 

 very much resembling those of the water-buck with 

 which we are acquainted. 



Large rivers, such as the Aroangwa or the Zambesi, 

 mark out well-defined limits which certain species 

 of game never exceed. That is why fauna differs 

 according to the banks one visits. 



At this time of the year the wind is no longer 

 certain, and its continual changes sometimes do us a 

 bad turn by putting animals to flight, one day par- 

 ticularly, when it warned a herd of giraffes of our 

 approach. From their fresh spoor and dung we see 

 that they have smelt us, and fled only a few minutes 

 ago. Perhaps, also, their sight being long, they saw 

 us. I do not know for certain. Trees are climbed, 



