34 
WILD ANIMALS. 
salt, probably pickling it might also have answered. 
The paunches were in several cases lined with clusters 
of maggots, a disease known amongst sheep in this 
country. 
Buffaloes gave Speke some dashing home-charges ; 
but though I sought them everywhere, I never had a 
shot. Their meat was as fine as that which any Eng- 
lish butcher can produce — the men eating of it day 
and night as long as it lasted. Brindled gnu is 
equally good, but far more beautiful in the field. 
Fearfully shy, they look at you for an instant only, 
then scamper off, lashing about their switching long 
tails; and after giving a short spurt, they turn round 
again, take another furtive glance, and then bound 
madly away. 
Giraffe are such wary animals, their heads peering 
over the tops of the acacias on which they feed, that 
only one specimen, a bull, was shot. This was done 
with a Lancaster ball through the heart, and I thought 
the latter small in proportion to the size of the animal. 
On asking for the head to be brought for preservation, 
I found that the Wezee porters had cut the ears off, 
and were already frizzling them for dinner. The hairs 
of the tail are so stiff, thick, long, and such a hand- 
some black, that the natives value them very much 
for stringing bead-necklaces. It being a thorny acacia 
country, our men benefited by the giraffe's thick skin, 
which they converted into excellent sandals. For 
days afterwards, as they passed to windward, the 
odour of a menagerie was unmistakable. 
Lions were fired at once during a moonlight march; 
others were heard both day and night making short 
coughing noises, but never " roaring like a lion" They 
