-^ The Lonely Wonder-world of the Nyika 



yet been disturbed by the strange sight of a human figure. 

 '* Nyogga-nyogga ! " whispered the lips of my comrade. 



It is not often that one has the chance of seeing the 

 nyogga-nyogga at such close quarters, and besides, 

 it is extremely difficult to watch it without being noticed 

 by it. It is so completely lost to sight in its surroundings, 

 and is so extremely timid and watchful, that I have very 

 seldom indeed succeeded in observing this splendid animal 

 before it has itself remarked my presence. When I suc- 

 ceeded it was almost invariably towards evening when 

 it had come out to feed. It is worth while to take full 

 advantage of such moments, for the slightest disturbance 

 instantly drives it away. And so it was now. It was 

 not long before the two nyogga-nyogga, with their long 

 necks stretched out, disappeared in the hollows of the 

 broken ground that extended below the place where we 

 stood. After this I caught sight of them a few times 

 standing amongst the clumps of acacias, timid, surprised, 

 and watchful ; then the gazelles betook themselves to the 

 protection of the wide velt, looking like mere points in 

 the distance. 



To me it seems as if the sonorous name that the Swahili 

 language gives them, and also the softer name that sounds 

 so sweetly in the mouth of a Masai, — '* Nanyad," — best 

 and most fitly express their beauty, strangeness, and grace. 



Again we turn our attention to all that is going on 

 below us. This time it is the rhinoceroses, which have 

 approached to within a few hundred yards of my post, that 

 most engage our attention. We observe how they nibble 

 here and there at the boughs of the Salvador a persica and 



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