V NDOROBO ELEPHANT-HUNTING 117 



day after, they regain their spirits, and the camp is as cheerful 

 as ever. " Amri ya Muungu " (It is God's will). 



Leaving our up route far to the left, we made for the 

 Gwaso Nyiro River, and followed it down for several days, till 

 we reached where we had first struck it before. But I thought 

 it advisable to cross higher up, as we were getting heavy rain 

 nearly every afternoon or night, and I feared it might rise. It 

 is always pleasant travelling along the banks of a river, and 

 there are some particularly pretty bits on this one. One 

 generally finds a shady grove to camp in on the banks ; and 

 an unlimited supply of fresh, running water is such a comfort. 

 Game, too, is seldom scarce, and I was able to keep up the 

 meat-supply pretty regularly. I saw one marvellous herd of 

 giraffe, covering, in scattered formation, a whole ridge ; I also 

 noticed some fifteen eland in a troop (a rare sight since the 

 cattle plague), and other game was pretty plentiful. Lions 

 were often heard at night, but I never came across any. 

 Speaking of giraffe, I saw one day what I had never before 

 had the opportunity of observing in all my experience, whether 

 in South or Central Africa ; namely, several lying down. I 

 had a good view of the herd through my glasses, and saw two 

 of them get up. The last I watched for some time lying, 

 before it rose, and distinctly saw it get upon its legs — first on 

 to its knees, then its hind-quarters rose, and lastly its fore legs 

 were made erect. I think this must be an uncommon sight, 

 in the case of wild giraffes, because the natives with whom I 

 have hunted them in South-East Africa declare that they never 

 do lie down, and have a fiction that a giraffe sleeps standing, 

 with its head in the fork of a tree. This attitude of repose I 

 have certainly never seen ; but I have noticed, when a herd is 

 resting on an open ridge in the heat of the day, some of them 

 standing drowsily with their heads lowered, the long necks 

 bent over like a bow. I am told that in the " Zoo " they lie 

 down every night ; but then they know they are safe from 

 lions there. It was on the banks of the Gwaso Nyiro, during 



