WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



man is timid and shy. It would be as dangerous as the 

 buffalo did it care to make use of its horns. But in 

 captivity the gnu often grows vicious, and the males 

 especially are dangerous to meddle with. 



In 1900 1 was the first to bring live, white -bearded 

 gnus from East Africa to Europe. Through the friendly 

 services of Captain Merker, I had bought two male and 

 one female two-year-olds from an old Arab in British 

 East Africa. One bull I presented to the British zoo- 

 logical gardens, the other two animals I kept for breed- 

 ing purposes on my estate, the Weiherhof, near Dueren. 



The young animals had plenty of space within their^ 

 enclosure to display their antics. The horns of the 

 young bull had already been trimmed in Pangani. 



One of my men volunteered to take charge of the new- 

 comers, which behaved very well in the beginning. But 

 they soon developed an ugly temper, so that one day 

 my man declined to enter the enclosure and attend to 

 the animals. "These are not animals," he said, "they 

 are devils ; the ' woman ' is not so bad, but the ' husband ' 

 is no good." Armed with a strong whip, 1 undertook 

 to bring the fighting young bull to terms. But I had 

 hardly entered the enclosure when I was tossed high 

 in the air. I was glad to escape without serious injury. 



We had to confine the animals to a small, strongly- 

 fenced-in place, for the bull very soon refused to be im- 

 pressed by the whippings of three, or even four, able- 

 bodied men. From day to day he grew fiercer and 



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