64 THE LAND OF THE LION 



shoot one or two of those picturesque but most useless, 

 and from a farmer's point of view most destructive, zebra; 

 but spare a rifle shot near the lake, and so do what little 

 you can to preserve for others the beautiful sight which game 

 approaching water affords. Here, if they are undisturbed, 

 the wild things of the veldt will still come for years, in great 

 numbers and wonderful variety. Game is quick to dis- 

 cover and appreciate a sanctuary, however small. At 

 Laikipia boma large herds may always be seen. The 

 commissioner has requested sefaris not to shoot close by, 

 and though a great number of hunting camps are pitched 

 there, his wishes have been respected. At Laikipia I rode 

 close to a herd of twenty fine eland, that were peacefully 

 grazing with the commissioner's cows. 



When in May last I came to Sergoit, five thousand head 

 of game must have been visible at one time to the naked eye. 

 Oraby bounded away as only oraby can, with long, spring- 

 ing leaps, and a fling-back of the hind legs, thrown in just 

 for the fun of the thing. Steinbuck dashed off, without 

 so much leaping, but quite as fast. Jackson's hartebeest 

 (a very fine antelope, indeed, not to be confounded with 

 Coke's hartebeest, the common kongoni of the more south- 

 ern country) in vast numbers dotted the whole land, and 

 sentinel bucks kept watch on every high ant hill. A band 

 of stately eland trotted steadily away, the bull bringing 

 up the rear. Waterbuck waded in the lake's margin, and 

 dikerbuck jumped up at your feet, where the grass grew long 

 among the ruins of the stone kraals of the perished Sarequa.* 



A few miles farther north, where the thorn trees were 

 filling the air with their heavy perfume, several herds of 

 giraffe ranged slowly, remaining in the same neighbourhood 

 for weeks together. 



Among the cliffs and steep glens of Cherangang to the 



*A large and prosperous tribe once inhabiting the plateau. They alone of East Africans built 

 themselves stone kraals. They seem to have perished utterly about one hundred years ago. 



