200 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



and raiders. On our return from the Guaso to 

 Nairobi we met an enormous caravan of Borani 

 traders returning home after taking down a lot 

 of ponies for the horse-dealers of the Protectorate. 

 There were more than sixty camels, and as the 

 animals moved slowly past us with their necks 

 outstretched to their native north, and that look 

 of infinite suffering and resignation which a 

 camel always bears, the wooden bells around 

 their necks tinkled and clouds of dust rose off 

 the dry, sandy soil, and blew away to the greener 

 pastures around Kenia. We were returning 

 to Nairobi by a route different to that by 

 which we had reached the Guaso. This time 

 our steps were set towards Nyeri — we were going 

 to complete a circle around the mountain — and 

 we began to notice a change in the fauna. 

 Giraffe became much scarcer, and the handsome 

 Grevy's zebra was replaced by the more common 

 type of Burchell's. 



Here, too, we saw our last gerenuk. A little 

 farther on an old Jackson's hartebeeste bull was 

 observed running with a herd of oryx. Then 

 Thomson's gazelle — those pretty little antelopes 

 which are for ever whisking their bushy tails and 

 are commonly known as " Tommies " — began to 

 be fairly plentiful. About half-way on the 

 march to Nyeri from the river, I shot rather a 

 fine specimen of a Serval cat. They are savage 

 little beasts, handsomely marked and almost 

 miniature leopards in appearance and disposition. 



The great adventure of this trek, however, 

 was a lion and leopard hunt in an immense 

 swamp about five days from Nyeri. There was 

 a good deal of spoor around, and as nearly all 

 the tracks seemed to lead towards this great 

 mass of high-growing reeds and dense grass, it 



