BRITISH EAST AFRICA 215 



said that the red man of North America devised 

 this scheme of getting within bow-and-arrow 

 range of game on open plains, but as a matter of 

 fact it is one of those instinctive methods that 

 are part and parcel of the hunting brain, and you 

 may be quite sure that the Bushman and Bantu 

 in Africa have dealt death in this manner for 

 quite as many years as the Sioux. 



A word as to the Thomson's gazelle. This 

 handsome little animal is an inhabitant of the 

 interior districts of British and German East 

 Africa. In colour the " Tommy " is a deep 

 sandy rufous, with sharply defined markings, 

 a central deep rufous face streak, and a narrow 

 black band bordering the white on the sides of 

 the rump. A full-grown male stands about 

 twenty-six inches high at the shoulder, and 

 weighs at a rough estimate half a hundredweight. 

 It is a pretty sight to view a family of " Tommies " 

 feeding on the vast, open grass plains of East 

 Africa. Tails for ever twitching from side to 

 side, the beautiful rich hue of their bodies shows 

 up handsomely against the verdant background. 

 When alarmed, they race over the ground in 

 sharp, quick gallops, but as soon as they consider 

 they have placed a fair distance between them- 

 selves and their pursuers, they immediately 

 begin grazing again. The rams are pugnacious 

 little creatures, and seem to be for ever doing 

 battle between one another. Rivals for a doe's 

 favours will charge like " knights so bold in days 

 of old." There is a woman in the case even on 

 the Suswa plains. 



About midday the wagon was drawn up along- 

 side one of two trees that threw no shade, and 

 the hot, thirsty oxen were out spanned. There 

 was a pool a couple of hundred yards off, and to 



