A SOJOURN AT RES HI AT AND KERE 



they had been forestalled by outsiders at yesterday's bulls, and 

 were very eager for meat, and I wished to encourage their 

 friendliness to us. The tusks, though good, were thin and light. 



We had a hard and rather disappointing day, and our 

 weary tramp back was made longer by our getting somewhat 

 out of our course — for our guides had long since disappeared ; 

 it was cruelly hot, and my gun-bearers were worn out by the 

 mosquitoes and burnt up with thirst. But even out of these 

 evils good came ; for, in some rather open bush country we 

 passed through before reaching the lake (which we afteryvards 

 struck too far north), I saw some large hartebeeste of a species 

 not only new to me, but which seemed to correspond exactly 

 with none of which I had read. There was a little herd of 

 them, and I had a good look at one (apparently the bull) which 

 brought up the rear, through my glasses, and became much 

 interested, feeling certain this would prove to be an undescribed 

 species. For, although a mere hunter, my love of the subject 

 had led me to acquire some general superficial knowledge of 

 African antelopes, including the hartebeestes. Its action and 

 general appearance corresponded with that of other members 

 of the genus, but it struck me as resembling most, both as to 

 size and in other respects, the " tora." 



I did not get near enough to have a good chance to shoot 

 one, and, though no doubt I might have succeeded had I 

 followed, under the then circumstances I was not very anxious 

 to kill a specimen, feeling sure that I should be able to obtain 

 some before leaving the country. And so, fortunately, I did, 

 in spite of subsequent difficulties, and the curious fact that 

 I met with this hartebeeste nowhere but in this particular 

 neighbourhood. My inquiries of the natives elicited only 

 confirmation of my own observations in this respect : they all 

 declared that only in that circumscribed locality was this 

 animal known. The explanation probably is that this is the 

 extreme limit of its range in this direction, the area of its 

 distribution projecting in a narrow point, as it were, so as to 



