256 THROUGH MAS AIL AND TO THE BORDERS OF KIKUYU 



The neighbourhood of Doenye Erok is a regular zoological 

 garden. The steep slopes, especially near the base of the 

 mountain, are clothed with luxuriant vegetation, chiefly acacias, 

 the nickname of erok, or black, originating in the dark colour 

 of the foliage. Moreover, the trees stand well apart and without 

 the dense undergrowth usual in tropical Africa, and amongst 

 them roam countless Mpala antelopes and a kind of wild 

 dog. But for the sound of their footsteps and the occasional 



cry of a small hornbill 

 with a slender red bill 

 and mottled dark - green 

 feathers, absolute silence 

 reigned. We liked go- 

 ing to this wood just to 

 watch the wild creatures 

 in it. 



The bush - grown 

 steppe beyond the moun- 

 tain was tenanted by 

 numerous rhinoceroses, 

 giraffes, zebras, wild 

 boars, gnus, gazelles, 

 ostriches, bustards, 

 guinea-fowls, and part- 

 ridges. In half an hour's walk Count Teleki wounded four 

 zebras, but he lost them all, as he had gone out alone, and did 

 not like to go too far from the camp. When close home he also 

 brought down an antelope of the size and shape and with the 

 horns of a gazelle, but of the brownish-red colour of a European 

 stag, with white hair on the abdomen. The following day he 

 shot a rhinoceros and a wild boar, having seen two other 

 rhinoceroses, The next afternoon the Count hunted along the 

 eastern base of the mountain, where he was much hindered by 



HORNS OF GAZELLE (SPECIES UNKNOWN). 



