ZOOI.OC.KAI. SOCll'.TV lU I. LET IN 



turiiiiiy liugf trii->. some two i'lct in diauictcr, 

 and tossing them about all over the phice. He 

 did not belong to tile esearpment herd that eon- 

 sisted mainly of cows with calves, and very 

 young bulls. He was just a pestiferous old 

 bachelor, or. perhaps, a disgruntled widower. 

 .\t all events, he disdained the company of his 

 kind, and when he was down, and the desire for 

 drink was on him. the rest gave him a wide 

 berth and let him have it all to himself. 



"The vultures were almost always there. 

 There were four or five varieties of them, and 

 frcfjuently some eagles. The baboons — in fact 

 all the game — strolled in and out amongst them 

 in most friendly fashion. These ugly scaven- 

 gers and birds of prey were regular topers. 

 They lounged about the water holes all day, 

 occasionally drinking, and frequently having 

 little rows among themselves. Right under the 

 eye of the camera on one occasion (it is recorded 

 on the film) a big bull orj'x walked up to a 

 group and scattered them with his horns. It 

 was just like a ])olieeman saying: "Here, you 

 loafers, move on. You ve hung around here 

 long enough ! 



"When the game was coming, wi- in the hide- 

 up forgot the broiling heat and the crawling 

 things that persisted in working their way un- 

 der our clothing. It was quite fascinating to 

 watch the timid impalla ajiproach. The ewes 

 shy and frightened — perhaps, being females it 

 was half pretense — being herded along by their 

 lord and master, and he. jealous as an old Turk 

 with his h.irem. making frequent rushes at the 

 gay and unattached Lotharios who hung about 

 the flanks of his ]X)lygamous family. The Grew 

 zebra would come trotting down, clattering along 

 like detaelunents of cavalry. Prerogatives they 

 insisted on ; the stallions drank before the mares. 

 and the mothers before their offspring. 



"We were much amused by watching .i tidy 

 little mare teach her foal manners. The young- 

 one, a beautiful creature, insisted on jjutting his 

 nose into his mother's drink, and having rei)e;il- 

 ed the offence, received a good sl.ini in tlu' ribs 

 by way of admonition ; not a hard kick that 

 would do any harm, but just a little lesson in 

 family etiquette that appeared to be taken to 

 he.irt. 



".Sonntimes as we peered out through the pee]) 

 holes in our hide-U])s we had the s.ntisfaction of 

 seeing many different animals gathered at the 

 same time. Oryx and impalla. Cirevy, wild pig. 

 and vulture were wandering about, and slowly 

 we were accumul.iting our ))hotogr;iphie treas- 

 ures that we had come so many miles to get. 



"It was the next morning but one th.it Kear- 

 ton got a strange picture by accident. From the 



upper hide-up a large herd of impall.i could be 

 seen grazing down toward the water iiole, and 

 moving very slowly, when suddenly the well- 

 known deeji-toned roar of a male lion was heard 

 a short dist.-ince away to the right. It was com- 

 ing nearer, and then, most surprising sight. ;i 

 full-grown, black-m.aned fellow came walking, 

 or better, half trotting, along the edge of the 

 river b.iiik. heading toward the ramp that led 

 down to the sandy stretch. As he came on he 

 kept rei>eating those rasping half grunts, h.-ilf 

 barks, that .-ilw.iys follow the deep-toned bel- 

 lowing note. Without .in intake of breath, he 

 repeated this over twenty times, and the impal- 

 la, not a linndrcd i/ards bci/ond him, did not 

 raixf llirir Iliads. They kept on (juietly feed- 

 ing. 



"It was a lesson in natural history: .1 moment 

 of intense dr.imatic interest, .and Kearton. .il- 

 tliough the light w.is not brilliant, had all the 

 time kept turning the handle of the Newman 

 silent camera, and we have that jiicture on the 

 Him. .Vlthough the beautiful blaek-nianed m.ile 

 presented a fair target, not a riHe was pointed 

 at him. and after .inotlier ro.ir he walked se- 

 dately into the bush. 



"The behaviour of the imjialla w.is contrary 

 to all ideas of what animals would do under the 

 circumstances, and the obvious lesson was this: 

 Those timid gazelles knew one of three things, 

 or perhaps knew all of them. The f.aet th.it the 

 lion w.as roaring may have been .1 sign of truce ; 

 maybe it was proof to them that he had already 

 made his kill and had fed. .and w.is exulting over 

 his perfect digestion ; they may have recognized 

 the fact that he was not hunting, and bore tlicin 

 jiersonally no ill-will, or th.it seeing him in 

 bro.id d.iylight. trusted to their swiftness of 

 foot, that they could esca))e .it .any time if he 

 m.ide a move in their direction." 



Further on in retrospective mood. Mr. IJ.irnes 

 li.is written something that brings back the at- 

 mos|)here .is it .itTected him .iiid .is it has ;if- 

 feeted others — the Call of Africa: — 



".Many times when feeling the opjiression .iiid 

 dejircssion of brick-and-mort.ir walls, the gloom 

 of the narrow streets and the deafening roar of 

 trartic, I h.ave longed for the open spaces. I 

 e.ill back to my mind's eye just one s])ot to 

 which, were I .\laddin. I would go tiiis inst.ant; 

 it is to the ^^allev of the Twin Peaks up tow.irds 

 the I'.ishu Neru. The grass is green from the 

 recent rains: it slojics gently down to the river 

 bank: thorn trees, whose branches stretch out 

 so evenly tli.it from ,1 distance they look like 

 great green mushrooms, rise to the right; along 

 the river b.ink flourish the great Don jialins. 

 .Hid .it the end of the vallej- one sees the peaks. 



