256 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA CHAP. 



and intolerable thirst, even without the exertion of 

 making our way through the tortuous animal paths 

 which we were forced to pursue. Every stone 

 has had inches blistered off its surface by the 

 fierce heat of a pitiless sun, and even the living things 

 that roam about in this barren wilderness appear 

 parched and sun-dried, all save the giraffe, which 

 seems to thrive in the glaring heat. 



Rhinos are very numerous, and as I rode along 

 to the left of the safari and about a mile away 

 from it, so as better to observe the game, I was 

 suddenly charged by one which had been startled 

 by the passing caravan. Shouting to Abbudi and 

 the gun-bearers who were with me to take re- 

 fuge in a convenient tree, I galloped off, thinking 

 the brute would follow. He, however, turned 

 his attention to the men in the tree instead, 

 and remained for some time quite close to them, 

 while Abbudi from his perch in the branches 

 screamed insults at him in choice Masai. I sat 

 on Aladdin some eighty yards away, enjoying the 

 sight. Finally, with a snort, the ungainly brute 

 turned and trotted off swiftly with his tail in the 

 air, and was soon lost to sight among the bushes. 



Before we had traversed half a dozen miles I had 

 counted eight of these creatures, but did not see 

 a good head among the lot. Short horns seem 



