ANTELOPES 295 
ing and covered with open thorn bush, the ground in many 
places was very rough and stony, and, to add to the discomforts 
of the stalk, carpeted with a creeping plant, the long ten- 
drils of which were covered with large and very hard seeds 
with sharp spikes on them. These seeds, whichever way they 
lay on the ground, always had a spike uppermost which went 
completely through coat-sleeves and breeches when crawling up 
togame. I was returning to camp about midday, feeling rather 
disappointed at having wounded and lost a fine bull oryx, when 
I saw the herd standing in an open space surrounded by thin 
bush. As there was an ‘earth boil’ close by, I walked partly up it 
to reconnoitre the country, and saw that immediately to leeward 
of the herd, about 100 yards off, there was a clump of table- 
topped mimosa-trees ; but between the edge of the bush and this 
clump, a distance of 200 yards, there was absolutely no covert 
with the exception of one or two stunted shrubs and a few large 
stones. Seeing that a long and very hot crawl was my only 
chance, I went round, keeping out of sight in the bush, and got 
the clump between myself and the oryx, when I began quite 
the most painful and trying stalk I have ever made. I 
started by crawling on hands and knees from bush to bush until 
I arrived at the last outlying one, and was rejoiced on looking 
round it to find that the greater part of the herd had lain down. I 
then knew that I had plenty of time before me. The ground be- 
tween myself and theclump, with the exception of onesmall bush 
some twenty yards on my side of it, was so bare that it seemed 
almost hopeless to attempt to get over it without being seen. 
However, I decided to try, and, leaving my gun-bearer behind 
the bush, began crawling slowly forward flat on my stomach. 
At every movement several of the sharp-spiked seeds penetrated 
through my breeches and coat-sleeves, causing me considerable 
pain ; moreover, as they stuck to the cloth, it was necessary to 
brush them off every two or three yards—no easy matter in my 
position. To make things still more discomforting, the heat 
reflected from the hard stony ground was almost unbearable. 
On reaching a large stone I was tempted to risk a shot, at 
