CHAPTER IX 



BEYOND BARINGO 



(in) ORYX, ELAND, IMPALA, JACKSON's HARTEBEEST, 



DIKDIK, ETC. 



Hitherto we liad not seen more than fifteen or 

 twenty oryx in the whole district, but on the day after 

 securing the second of my pair (the limit allowed by the 

 game-laws) I fell in with a herd of no less than fifty of 

 these stately antelopes. These presented a magnificent 

 spectacle, their glancing horns resembling a forest of 

 fixed bayonets as they moved in from the north-west in 

 a long file, doubtless an arrival on migration. They 

 were accompanied by zebras and gazelles, while several 

 jackals hung on their flanks. 



' It still remained for my brother to secure his pair of 

 oryx, and a day or two later he succeeded in that object, 

 getting two bulls out of this newly-arrived herd, the 

 best carrying an exceptionally fine head of 34^ ins., 

 besides bringing in a young male oryx as large as a goat, 

 which he and the men had captured in the grass. At 

 daybreak, when setting out, he had also bagged a big 

 spotted hyena close to camp. The native boys kept 

 shouting, " Simba, simba " (lion, lion) ; so that after 



making a good shot, running, at over 100 yards, W 



was disappointed to find he had killed only, a hyena. 



While W was busy with his oryx, I devoted myself 



to impala, wdiich here carry splendid heads ; specimens 

 of 28 ins. are not uncommon, but one I met with 

 appeared to exceed that dimension. Of course it is 

 always the biggest that escape, and that was the case 



97 H 



