XI FROM EL BOGOI TO LAKE RUDOLPH 253 



I saw the skeletons of some they had killed. They hunt in 

 large parties, using bows and poisoned arrows and wound a 

 great many besides what they kill. I could find none, though 

 I tried in all directions except on the mountain-top. That 

 was covered with heavy clouds during the whole time I was in 

 its neighbourhood, for the weather was very stormy. I was 

 told there were elephants in the " subugo " forest on the summit, 

 but as it was always raining there I did not attempt to climb 

 the mountain. It was bad enough below, the wind rushing 

 down with terrific force on to a camp I had for a day or two 

 close under the western face, where it is very precipitous, 

 seeming to come straight down the cliffs like a waterfall. 



Nyiro is neither a peak nor a range ; but rather a block, 

 with apparently a considerable extent of mountain forest on its 

 top. Owing to its isolation, surrounded by waterless plains 

 and cut off by wide uninhabited tracts from other districts, the 

 cattle plague which devastated East Central Africa several 

 years ago seems not to have reached these islands in the 

 desert. I gathered that the Sambur natives owned considerable 

 herds of cattle, though they keep them out of sight in the 

 ravines of the mountain. I noticed, too, the spoor of small 

 herds of buffalo once or twice, a rare sight now in Central 

 Africa. 



Though I got tired of waiting here so long and met with 

 no elephants to reward my exertions in examining the 

 neighbourhood, it was as pleasant a place to be delayed in as 

 any on the route : a fine open country, a good stream of clear, 

 cold water, game enough within easy reach to keep the larder 

 supplied, and a healthy climate. One day I shot an ostrich, but, 

 though a cock, its plumes were damaged. There were a good 

 many about, and once or twice I saw large flocks of chicks. 

 Something must prey on these, or ostriches would be much 

 more numerous than they are. When the skin of my ostrich 

 was dry, I made an attempt to utilise it as a disguise {a la 

 Bushman) for the purpose of photographing living Grant's gazelle. 



