278 THROUGH MAS AIL AND TO THE BORDERS OF KIKUYU 



It was a long time before all the porters and pack-animals 

 got to the top of the plateau, and even after their arrival we 

 had to wait for Jumbe Kimemeta, who had stopped behind to 

 settle up finally with the other traders, so that it was ten 

 o'clock before we could go on, late enough in view of the 

 arduous march before us. 



Meanwhile Count Teleki shot a gazelle of a reddish colour, 

 resembling the one he brought down on the Ngare na lalla. 

 At mid-day we saw numerous rhinoceroses and ostriches, and, 

 to make sure of a day's rations, Count Teleki halted the cara- 

 van and went off hunting. The rhinoceroses stood and lay 

 about in the open where there was not a scrap of cover, and 

 the only way to hunt them was to make some of the men 

 draw off their attention. At the first shot all the animals went 

 off, and had to be followed. The tracks of several wounded 

 animals crossing each other, the Count hunted now one and 

 now another till he brought down two. He then went after a 

 third which had hidden somewhere, and, as he thought, soon 

 reached it. But, instead of being badly wounded, the animal, 

 he found, had not been hit at all, and, as he advanced quietly 

 towards it. it charged full upon him. A shot in the shoulder 

 turned the furious beast aside in the nick of time, a second 

 broke a hind leg, and a third finished it off. A fourth rhi- 

 noceros received seven Express bullets in head and shoulders, 

 but escaped after all, as it would have taken too long to follow 

 it. We saw five other rhinoceroses here, two of which had 

 quite young ones with them. 



Interesting as was the hunt, which was carried on in view 

 of the whole caravan, we w T ere very glad to get off again at 

 ten minutes past two, for the heat was very great on the bare, 

 unprotected plain. We now bore northward in the direction 

 of the base of the Doenye Erok ; the ground became more and 

 more undulating till at last it was quite hilly ; vegetation, too, 



