54 UNKNOWN BEAST ON THE MAGADI RAILWAY 
I could not at all think what animal it was, and it was only- 
after I was actually past that I realised that it must be the 
strange beast of which we had all heard, and which has been 
seen several times during the construction of this railway. 
Directly I realised what I had seen my first impulse was 
to go back, especially as I had a *350 Rigby with me. 
I could still see it loping away, but I remembered that a 
slight wash-away had been reported at Mile 29, and our engines 
were held up and waiting for me to get them through. 
I therefore went on, intending to stop on my way back 
and take careful measurements of the spoor. Unfortunately, 
however, when I was returning in the afternoon very heavy 
rain was on, so I did not stop, as nothing would have been left 
of the spoor, the whole country being under water. 
This strange beast was first mentioned to me by Mr. Clifford 
Hill, who, on the first survey of this railway, had a young 
Dutch boy with him who came across one on the Koora Plains 
(Mile 71). 
He had seen nothing like it and could not describe it, so 
Mr. Hill showed him a picture-book of animals, and he picked 
out the bear as being like the animal he had seen. 
The first we heard of it during construction was when we 
had our pipe-line discharging water to waste at about Mile 71. 
Several engineers saw a strange spoor in the mud so formed — 
all the rest of the country being dry. It has been sketched to 
me and described as that of a bear. 
A native servant of one of the engineers, Mr. Archibald, 
also reported that he saw this strange animal, which, he says, 
stood on its hind legs and looked at him, but would not run 
away. 
The only other instance of its actually having been seen is 
reported by a sub-contractor, Mr. Caviggia, who saw one at 
Mile 38, and his description is very similar to mine. 
I have been in Africa — East, South, and West — in the 
wilds in advance of civilisation, building railways during a 
considerable part of the last eighteen years, and I cannot 
think of any animal I have not seen in its wild state, but I 
have never before seen anything like this beast. 
Magadi Junction, April 11 , 1913 . 
