HUNTING ON THE SIMBA RIVER 241 



have a dull routine prepared with incident and adven- 

 ture, perhaps he may arrange to swap jobs with the 

 babu at Simba." 



It may here be worth mentioning that, from the 

 higher hills north of Simba, on a clear day, both Mount 

 Kenya on the north and Kilimanjaro on the south may 

 be seen at once. 



Our own objective being, not lion, but Oryx callotis, 

 we devoted scorching days to the exploration of the 

 adjoining veld, especially those lovely inset prairies 

 bordered all round by tropical forest, which are a 

 feature of this region, and the favourite resort of oryx. 

 Here we fell in with herds of giant giraffes, sometimes 

 feeding in the open, at others towering i\^ among the 

 mimosa thorn-tree on which they browse. These great 

 animals, however, have never attracted us, and we left 

 them in peace. 



Personally during these days I never set eye on an 

 oryx, and my brother but once — a single animal that, 

 being associated with restless kongoni, proved inac- 

 cessible. Next day we sought for him far and wide, but 

 found him not. To leave no chance untried, we even, 

 Simba having failed, travelled back to Makindu, twenty 

 miles, that also proving blank ; then thirty-nine miles 

 onwards to Sultan Hamud, where we saw superb giraffes, 

 but not a single oryx at either point. Here, however, I 

 am anticipating. 



The Simba River, with its broad forests and 

 dense tropical bush, harbours many waterbuck {Cobus 

 eUipsiprymnus), of which we secured local specimens, 

 one bull carrying fair horns, though none are really 

 good. On two occasions, while stalking, we observed 

 monkeys, and many small birds displayed gorgeous 

 colours— especially the weaver-finches, rollers, sunbirds, 

 barbets and bee-eaters ; while fireflies on the river by 

 night made a wondrous spectacle. 



On March 19, after spending five hours in vain search 

 of oryx, at 11 a.m. I shot a couple of hartebeest bulls in 



