V 
NDOROBO ELEPHANT-HUNTING 
ii 7 
day after, they regain their spirits, and the camp is as cheerful 
as ever. “ Amri ya Muungu ” (It is God’s will). 
Leaving our up route far to the left, we made for the 
Gwaso Nyiro River, and followed it down for several days, till 
we reached where we had first struck it before. But I thought 
it advisable to cross higher up, as we were getting heavy rain 
nearly every afternoon or night, and I feared it might rise. It 
is always pleasant travelling along the banks of a river, and 
there are some particularly pretty bits on this one. One 
generally finds a shady grove to camp in on the banks ; and 
an unlimited supply of fresh, running water is such a comfort. 
Game, too, is seldom scarce, and I was able to keep up the 
meat-supply pretty regularly. I saw one marvellous herd of 
giraffe, covering, in scattered formation, a whole ridge ; I also 
noticed some fifteen eland in a troop (a rare sight since the 
cattle plague), and other game was pretty plentiful. Lions 
were often heard at night, but I never came across any. 
Speaking of giraffe, I saw one day what I had never before 
had the opportunity of observing in all my experience, whether 
in South or Central Africa ; namely, several lying down. I 
had a good view of the herd through my glasses, and saw two 
of them get up. The last I watched for some time lying, 
before it rose, and distinctly saw it get upon its legs—first on 
to its knees, then its hind-quarters rose, and lastly its fore legs 
were made erect. I think this must be an uncommon sight, 
in the case of wild giraffes, because the natives with whom I 
have hunted them in South-East Africa declare that they never 
do lie down, and have a fiction that a giraffe sleeps standing, 
with its head in the fork of a tree. This attitude of repose I 
have certainly never seen ; but I have noticed, when a herd is 
resting on an open ridge in the heat of the day, some of them 
standing drowsily with their heads lowered, the long necks 
bent over like a bow. I am told that in the “ Zoo ” they lie 
down every night; but then they know they are safe from 
lions there. It was on the banks of the Gwaso Nyiro, during 
