Northern Nigeria 



I had shot in, it was a peculiarly trying, muggy 

 heat, and before the sun was well up I had to 

 rnop nay forehead perpetually, or the perspiration 

 blinded me. After about two hours I saw a 

 herd of hartebeest across the creek which was 

 all the Mimmi was here. They were some 250 

 yards off, in thickest bush, so that I could 

 only get glimpses of them here and there. I 

 tried to get closer to pick my head, as I had 

 been brought up to do, but put them up, and they 

 vanished. Soon after I came on a hartebeest 

 quite close, with his head in a bush. Again I 

 paused ; I couldn't see his head, and there were 

 others about. Again I lost my chance. Once put 

 up anything in this bush, and they are gone from 

 sight in the smallest fraction of a second. There 

 is plenty of game in Nigeria, but the difficulties of 

 getting it are so enormous that I then and there 

 decided to take my chances as they came, and 

 waive all former rules. I saw several little light- 

 coloured buck that day, but never succeeded in 

 letting off my rifle. 



That night I camped rather further from the 

 stream, and there were more sand-flies than mos- 

 quitoes, whereas on the previous night there had 

 been more mosquitoes than sand-flies. But while 

 on the first night I considered mosquitoes were 

 the worst, by the end of the second I had dis- 

 covered my error. 



189 



