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ON SOME UNIDENTIFIED BEASTS 
ON SOME UNIDENTIFIED BEASTS. 
By C. W. Hobley. 
In No. 4 of the Journal Mr. G. Williams described a strange 
animal which he had seen on the Uasin-Gishu Plateau, and since 
then I have made extensive inquiries in various parts of the 
country, and, through the kindness of various gentlemen, have 
been able to accumulate a considerable amount of evidence 
which all goes to show that some curious beast does exist. 
Up to date, however, it still eludes the collector, but the circle 
is narrowing. I will now detail the various accounts which 
have come to hand. 
Major Toulson, a well-known settler on the plateau, saw 
one of these animals some time ago and his account is as 
follows : ‘ It was getting dark when one of my boys came 
into my room and said that a leopard was close to the kitchen. 
I rushed out at once and saw a strange beast making off : 
it appeared to have long hair behind and it was rather low in 
front. I should say it stood about 18 in. to 20 in. at the 
shoulder ; it appeared to be black, with a gait similar to that 
of a bear — a kind of shuffling walk. Unfortunately it was 
nearly dark at the time and I did not get a fair view of the 
head. 
‘ Several Dutchmen had asked me a few days before w T hat 
the strange animal was on the plateau ; they said it was like 
a bear, but they had only seen it at dusk ; it turned on their 
dogs and chased them off. They described it as a thick-set 
beast and it was making a peculiar moaning cry.’ 
The next bit of evidence came from engineers and others on 
the Magadi Railway who stated that they had seen the spoor of 
a curious beast on the rough cart-track which preceded the 
railway. Mr. F. Schindler states that he saw this track in 
some dried mud at the end of the pipe-line, and sketched it 
out for me. The woodcut opposite is a reduced copy of the 
alleged foot-print. 
In March last Mr. N. E. F. Corbett, District Commissioner, 
Eldoret, actually saw what he believes to be the beast, and his 
