BUSH-DEER 131 



At last we landed at a point of ground where there 

 was little jungle, and where the forest was composed of 

 palms and was fairly open. It was a lovely bit of forest. 

 The Colonel stroUed off in one direction, returning an 

 hour later with a squirrel for the naturalists. Mean- 

 while Fiala and I went through the palm-wood to a 

 papyrus-swamp. Many trails led through the woods, 

 and especially along the borders of the swamp ; and, 

 although their principal makers had evidently been 

 cattle, yet there were in them footprints of both tapir 

 and deer. The tapir makes a footprint much like 

 that of a small rhinoceros, being one of the odd-toed 

 ungulates. We could hear the dogs now and then, 

 evidently scattered and running on various trails. They 

 were a worthless lot of cur-hounds. They would chase 

 tapir or deer or anything else that ran away from them 

 as long as the trail was easy to follow ; but they were 

 not staunch, even after animals that fled, and they would 

 have nothing whatever to do with animals that were 

 formidable. 



While standing by the marsh we heard something 

 coming along one of the game-paths. In a moment 

 a buck of the bigger species of bush-deer appeared, a 

 very pretty and graceful creature. It stopped and darted 

 back as soon as it saw us, giving us no chance for a shot ; 

 but in another moment we caught glimpses of it running 

 by at full speed, back among the palms. I covered an 

 opening between two tree-trunks. By good luck the 

 buck appeared in the right place, giving me just time 

 to hold well ahead of him and fire. At the report he 

 went down in a heap, the " umbrella-pointed " bullet 

 going in at one shoulder, and, ranging forward, break- 

 ing the neck. The leaden portion of the bullet, in the 

 proper mushroom or umbrella shape, stopped under the 



