A HUNTER'S CAMP-FIRES 



Swahili and the guide to camp to bring a force of porters to 

 the carcass, and, as the giraffe had fallen in a burnt strip, 

 where the heat from the sun on the blackened ground was 

 almost unbearable, I left Faki with my heavy rifle to superin- 

 tend the skinning and cutting-up, while I started in the direc- 

 tion of camp with the remaining Swahili, 



Half a mile farther I saw a cow giraffe, accompanied by a 

 female oryx and calf, watching me across a small, grassy plain 

 about two hundred yards distant. Crawling up as close as 

 possible, I took several photographs of the giraffe before it finally 

 galloped away among the acacias, A band of seven Jackson's 

 hartebeests also came to view through the scattering trees 

 about two hundred yards ahead, and, as they spied me and 

 started off, I succeeded in crippling the leader of the band by 

 a long shot. The hartebeest bull was badly hit, and lagged 

 behind the band for several miles, lying down occasionally; but 

 I was unable to get within shooting-range, and finally lost sight 

 of it altogether. 



This orchard-like acacia country has a monotonous and con- 

 fusing sameness about it, owing to which, at the termination of 

 this hartebeest chase, I began to realize that I was not certain 

 of our whereabouts. However, by watching the sun I man- 

 aged to reach a stream which I judged to be the one our camp 

 was located upon, and started to follow up its bank. The 

 monotony of the bush in this country was broken here and 

 there by rocky lava ledges and bowlders, and occasionally one 

 of the striking candelabra euphorbia-trees towered above its 

 flat - topped neighbors. At one time I saw about thirty Bur- 

 chell's zebra feeding on an exposed grassy knoll, while rhinoc- 

 eros and wart-hog tracks were plentiful everywhere. We also 

 met a troop of about forty rock baboons, which was travelling 

 across the country, and which paralleled our course for some 

 time, affording us much amusement. Females carrying small 

 babes in their arms, and surrounded by a riffraff of youngsters 



