i64 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



so we passed on, after getting out of the gorge (not without 

 considerable trouble with the pack-animals, owing to steep 

 paths and thick bush), towards my favourite preserve under 

 the Lorogis. 



We found the country less dry than usual this year, owing 

 to the rains having been exceptionally heavy. This is, of 

 course, an advantage, in that the water difficulty becomes 

 somewhat abated ; but the rank growth of grass induced by a 

 copious rainfall makes walking very much harder work, parti- 

 cularly for those in front, and thus renders travelling in a 

 pathless country — as this region is, practically, from Laiju 

 northward to Reshiat — much more tedious. Game is by no 

 means plentiful everywhere, in this part of Africa. It is 

 generally much scattered, and sometimes long stretches hold 

 hardly any. But here and there one comes on a patch where 

 it is abundant, being attracted by young grass or some such 

 favourable conditions. Thus in one place, where there was 

 young green grass, we passed through thousands of zebra, 

 chiefly Grevy's, and also saw a herd of giraffes and a few 

 elands, as well as one or two rhinos, in the same neighbourhood, 

 and heard the zebra crying all night. I had at this time a fit 

 of bad shooting, such as sometimes attacks me. It is very 

 much a matter of health, as affecting one's nerves, I think ; 

 and the cause of the bad shots is generally a tendency to flinch. 

 In this way, I am ashamed to say, I lost several wounded 

 animals at this time, among them a rhino, entirely through bad 

 shooting. 



One day, while on the march, one of these blustering 

 beasts came unpleasantly near me while I was, for once, un- 

 armed — my boy at the time carrying my rifle. It charged up 

 to within two or three yards of me, but stood then, — I stooping 

 the while behind a bit of a shrub, ready to dodge, — and 

 Shebane (my boy;, who was some distance behind, chucked 

 down everything, including my magazine rifle, and bolted. 

 The rhino, however, after pausing a moment on the other side 



