240 IN AFRICA 



The hartebeest, or kongoni, is hard to kill. The 

 Dutch gave him the name for that reason. It often 

 seems as if bullets have no effect on him. He will 

 absorb lead without losing a trace of his good- 

 humored look, and after he has been shot several 

 times he will go bounding earnestly away, as if 

 nothing was the matter. If he succeeds in join- 

 ing a herd there is little way of distinguishing which 

 one has been shot, unless he suddenly exhibits signs 

 or falls over. Otherwise he is quite likely to gallop 

 away, far beyond pursuit, and then slowly succumb 

 to his wounds. 



Again I've seen them knocked over and lie as if 

 dead, but before one could approach they would be 

 up and off as good as ever. This is the great tragedy 

 of the conscientious hunter's life the escape of a 

 wounded animal beyond pursuit and the thought 

 of it is one that keeps him awake at night with a 

 remorseful heart and saddened thoughts. When- 

 ever I shall think of Africa in the future, I shall 

 think of my old friend, the kongoni, dotting the 

 landscape and sticking his inquiring ears over vari- 

 ous spots on the horizon. In four and a half 

 months I think I must have seen at least a hundred 

 thousand kongoni. 



The giraffe is also a creature of most amusing 

 actions. You are pretty certain to see a bunch of 

 them as you come up the railway from the coast. 

 They were the first wild animals I saw in British 

 East Africa a group of four or five quietly feed- 

 ing within only a hundred yards of the thundering 



