A DAY ON THE ISIOLA 



clump of grass. Once we saw gerenuk — oh, far 

 away in an impossible distance. Of course we tried 

 to stalk them; and as usual we failed. The gerenuk 

 we had come to look upon as our Lesser Hoodoo. 



The beast is a gazelle about as big as a black- 

 tailed deer. His peculiarity is his excessively long 

 neck, a good deal on the giraffe order. With it he 

 crops browse above high tide mark of other animals, 

 especially when as often happens he balances cleverly 

 on his hind legs. By means of it also he can, with 

 his body completely concealed, look over the top of 

 ordinary cover and see you long before you have 

 made out his inconspicuous little head. Then he 

 departs. He seems to have a lamentable lack of 

 healthy curiosity about you. In that respect he 

 should take lessons from the kongoni. After that 

 you can follow him as far as you please; you will get 

 only glimpses at three or four hundred yards. 



We remounted sadly and rode on. The surface 

 of the ground was rather soft, scattered with round 

 rocks the size of a man's head, and full of pig holes. 



"Cheerful country to ride over at speed," remarked 

 Billy. Later in the day we had occasion to remem- 

 ber that statement. 



The plains led us ever on. First would be a band 

 of scattered brush growing singly and in small 

 clumps: then a little open prairie; then a narrow, 



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