EXISTING GAME 9 



its entire length. Fortunately the rhinoceros, 

 which was kUled on the spot, was flung off the 

 track by the violence of the impact, otherwise 

 the derailment of at least the engine might 

 easily have occurred. 



I hope, however, my readers will not leap 

 to the conclusion that incidents like the latter 

 are of frequent occurrence. It is true, I believe, 

 that heart-rending complaints are made from 

 time to time by distracted officials of the damage 

 wrought by monkeys disporting themselves on 

 the telegraph wires, and by giraffes which saunter 

 leisurely but irresistibly across the permanent 

 way, completely forgetting that telegraph pole 

 construction does not yet make allowance for 

 the length of their necks. These catastrophes 

 happen,^-it is true, but I ask any lover of the 

 beautiful wild things of the forest and plain, 

 which have lent such world-wide attraction to 

 the plains of East Africa, if such small incon- 

 veniences as these are, in the circumstances, 

 worthy of consideration as such ? 



Turning to the great game families existing 

 at present in the region of Zambezia, the most 

 numerous are probably the zebras ; then come 

 certain antelopes, such as the eland, sable, roan, 

 gnu (both the brindled and Nyasaland varieties), 

 kudu, hartebeeste, waterbuck, and others. Ele- 

 phants are found in the forested uplands during 

 the winter, and buffaloes are still obtainable in 

 the wide plains bordering some of the remoter 

 streams. There are, however, no giraffes or 

 gazelles, such as Grant's or Thompson's, or the 



