^ The Lonely Wonder-world of the Nyika 



better instruments of investigation at work — the eyes of 

 my black companions. 



'' Pharu, bwana ! " now whispers one of my men, 

 and points cautiously with his arm down to a certain 

 point on the plain. His caution, however, is not necessary, 

 for it is at a distance of at least a thousand yards that 

 his sharp eyes have distinguished the outHnes of two 

 almost invisible rhinoceroses that are moving slowly 

 through a group of acacias. What an effect that word 

 ''pharu" has upon me! For once more there has come 

 close to me one of those strange, mighty beings that 

 really belong to a time long passed, and which, like the 

 elephant, the giraffe, the zebra, the gnu, and a few other 

 forms, lend to the wilderness the charm of primeval 

 days. Naturally still stronger is the effect of the cry 

 of *' Tembo ! " on the hunter and the watcher amid such 

 scenes. "Elephant!" This name electrifies even the 

 weariest traveller. But when the word is " Twigfora ! " 

 (*' Giraffe ! ") — even here in Europe the strange, slender- 

 necked creature, moving in some acacia wood all flooded 

 with the sunlight, comes up bodily before me — bodily and 

 plainly to be seen, but alas, only in imagination ! 



After trying for a minute, I succeed in getting the 

 massive creatures sharply defined in the middle of the 

 field of my glass. But the clear view of them is 

 something that comes and goes. Several times it looks 

 as if the velt had swallowed them up ; then they suddenly 

 come into sight again, being specially visible to the eye 

 when they show themselves sideways. Seen from front 

 or rear, particularly when at rest, they are all but invisible. 



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