THE UNSEEN WORLD 



261 



There are, however, members of this " unseen 

 world " of which once or twice in a lifetime one may 

 catch a fugitive glimpse. Thus, as above recorded 

 (p. 210), we twice saw and once actually captured a 

 porcupine. Now this animal must be extremely abundant 

 in Africa ; yet so rarely is he seen that, on my mention- 

 ing the fact just stated to Mr. F. J. Jackson at Nairobi, 

 he told me that never once in his lifelong experience of 

 East Africa and its big game had he so much as seen 

 a single porcupine alive ! 



AARD-VAAPaC — SKETCHED IN EEKGEN MUSEUM. 



Once when " partridge "-shooting over dogs in the 

 South, my two pointers had "set" dead at something 

 which their attitude of quivering excitement — suggesting 

 some slight " funk " — clearly showed was not the harm- 

 less fraucolin of our search. Out bounced a huge 

 brindled civet, looking quite double its natural size 

 owing to the prominent erectile crest wdiich stuck 

 straight up along the whole length of the beast, from 

 nape of neck to tip of tail. Instantly the hunting 

 instinct in both dogs — steady enough on game — • 

 reasserted itself. In short, they broke-in, thus spoil- 

 ing my shot ; and after infinite digging, shifting tons 

 of earth from the hole wherein the civet had sought 

 refuge — it made no attempt to " tree " — we were 



