vii THROUGH A GAME COUNTRY 75 



miles away. The stars that morning were shining 

 brilliantly, and it was delightful riding along by 

 their light and that of the waning moon. The 

 Southern Cross showed up particularly well and 

 served to guide me on my journey until dawn. 



Of course, for the first couple of hours, while it was 

 still dark, I saw no game, although we could some- 

 times hear animals rustling in the undergrowth. 

 When daylight came I saw that the country all 

 round was sparsely covered with dwarf trees and 

 bush, with here and there broad stretches of open 

 grass country. Away to my left, and at a much 

 lower level, lay an immense undulating plain which 

 appeared to stretch away as far as the eye could 

 see. Game seemed very numerous in this valley, 

 for by the aid of my glasses I could make out 

 giraffe, eland, rhino, and many kinds of antelope, 

 while I saw one lion stalking along with the 

 contented gait which showed that he had enjoyed 

 a good meal but a short time before. Of mankind 

 I saw no trace, save only one solitary bowman who 

 was cautiously threading his way through the nyika. 



I found this whole journey a most interesting one, 

 for the country was quite new to me and I was 

 constantly coming upon some feature of fresh 

 interest. When I had covered about sixteen miles 

 of the distance, I spied a very fine bull eland stand- 

 ing about a quarter of a mile ahead under the 



