74 ON SAFARI 



tribes. These, flushed with victory, dashed on the 

 British post ; but its solitary white occupant, Mr. Hyde 

 Baker, aided by a handful of Nubian askaris, held the 

 savages at bay for five days, till assistance arrived. 

 Such incidents — merely the grinding of the mill of 

 progress — are, T presume, printed in Blue-books, but 

 seldom reach the average British reader. 



Baringo now enjoys the reputation of being one of 

 the most favoured regions in the British Protectorate in 



O 



respect of its big game. There remains, nevertheless, 

 room for disappointment. For so extensive, and as yet 

 so little understood, are the migratory movements of 

 the antelope-tribe, as also of giraff"e, rhino and other 

 game-animals, that a district which swarms with them 

 one month may be found deserted the next. The 

 materials at present available are too scanty either to 

 determine the extent and dates of these migrations, or 

 to correlate them with seasonal or other causes. It is 

 one object of these chapters to contribute thereto such 

 gleams of light as were furnished by our experiences at 

 Baringo and elsewhere in East Africa. 



Shortly before leaving England, I had received a 

 letter from Major C. S. Cumberland, who was then at 

 Baringo, that he was disappointed with that district. 

 He wrote as follows :—" Baringo, March 29 [1904]. 

 This is sujDposed to be a good game-country, but I have 

 seen very little, and what there is, having been much 

 hunted, is very wild. It will give you an idea of what 

 this country is like this year to say that I have not 

 halted in any one of my camps for more than one day. 

 In my opinion the beasts have shifted owing to the 

 drouo'ht." 



Under the impression that if March were unfavour- 

 able, August might prove to be the reverse, we reached 

 Baringo in the latter month. On arrival, Mr. Archer 

 told us that five or six weeks earlier, at the end of the 

 rains, game had been extremely abundant a few marches 

 to the northward. Thus an entry in his diary on July 

 11 mentions seeino- during- the mornino-, while ridino; 



