18 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



inhabit open grassy plains, has enormously deve- 

 veloped fore-quarters and a very sloping shoulder. 

 The hind- quarters are small and drooping (like 

 the " wee droop-rumpled hunter cattle"). This 

 build appears to enable it to attain great speed, 

 just as occurs in horses, without stumbling. The 

 bush-buck, which inhabits dense forest, has quite 

 the reverse formation, for everything slopes back- 

 wards from the pointed nose and small fore- 

 quarters to the relatively large hind-quarters. 

 Hence the animal goes through bush like a 

 wedge. 



In the hartebeest it is the fore-quarters 

 chiefly, and in the bush-buck the hind-quarters, 

 which do the work. 



In one day I saw rhinoceros, ostriches, hundreds 

 of hartebeest, and a most beautiful little antelope 

 (Thomsonii), besides wildebeest, a few sand-grouse, 

 &c. Zebras and lions are also abundant, and we 

 came across both. Such places are, of course, 

 eminently suited to cattle ranches, and they are 

 even now inhabited, or as one might say with 

 almost equal truth, rendered desert by the Masai. 

 Sand-grouse are pretty common, and herds of 

 zebra may be seen trotting quietly away. I saw 

 one rhinoceros, which winded our caravan at about 

 half a mile away and immediately 'fled ! 



On entering the thick forest at the beginning 

 of the steep ascent to Kikuyu one has still to be 

 extremely careful. The Wakikuyu are thoroughly 



