18S3.] THE "SPEKE AND GRANT " EXPEDITION. 177 



was generally cut into long strips, which were dried to hardness in 

 the sun, and eaten after being frizzled in the fire. 



We had not many opportunities of observing the habits of these 

 animals, as they are so wary. One of their number, probably the largest 

 male, takes general charge of the herd; and it was once noticed that a 

 large Antelope kept watch and gave the alarm on our appearance. 

 They are rarely found outside the forest, preferring it to the open plain, 

 which is generally bare of grass ; or they frequent a country with clumps 

 of dense brushwood or with outbursts of granite, around which they 

 get abundant food ; and they were never seen far from running water 

 and hills. 



Their breeding-season was determined by foals following their 

 mothers in the month of January, and by the shrill calls we heard, 

 which came, I presume, from the foals. The first time I heard their 

 call I mistook it for that of a bird, and could scarcely be persuaded 

 till I heard the decided donkey notes following the shriller sounds. 

 They showed much sympathy when a comrade was wounded, 

 lingering with the wounded at the risk of ther lives ; they mingled 

 with our laden donkeys one day on the march. And the precautions 

 taken by the leader of the flock of his charge have already been 

 noticed. 



We saw that this animal occupies a wide range of country, from 

 the east of the east-coast range of mountains to the north of Lake 

 Nyanza in 0° 52' N. lat., and conclude that, in ground favourable 

 for breeding, it may be found continuously up to Shoa in 10° N. lat., 

 whence the specimen in the Jardin des Plautes was brought. All 

 this range, however, is not favourable, much of it being moun- 

 tainous, some being desert and void of water ; but altitude does not 

 seem to make material difference. The animal was shot by our party 

 at altitudes ranging from 200 feet above sea-level to three and four 

 thousand feet high, on elevated plateaux covered with forest ; at tiie 

 head-waters of the Mgaeta river, which flows into the Kingaui, 

 debouching on the east coast, we shot it ; across the east-coast range, 

 near the head-waters of the Nile in E. Ugogo, we saw it ; near the 

 shores of Lake Nyanza, in Usui, we found it ; and iu Uganda, to the 

 north of Victoria Lake, we shot it. 



It therefore appears to be a hardy animal, living as it does at such 

 varied altitudes and under such different temperatures, ranging from 

 70° night heat to 130° day. It may also be said of it that the 

 disease which affects the imported mules and horses seems not 

 to destroy it, that it was generally found wherever there is good 

 grazing and where cattle most abound, and that it has chosen for its 

 homes some of the brightest and most fertile spots in Equatorial 

 Africa. 



