164 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
so we passed on, after getting out of the gorge (not without 
considerable trouble with the pack-animals, owing to steep 
paths and thick bush), towards my favourite preserve under 
the Lorogis. 
We found the country less dry than usual this year, owing 
to the rains having been exceptionally heavy. This is, of 
course, an advantage, in that the water difficulty becomes 
somewhat abated ; but the rank growth of grass induced by a 
copious rainfall makes walking very much harder work, parti¬ 
cularly for those in front, and thus renders travelling in a 
pathless country—as this region is, practically, from Laiju 
northward to Reshiat—much more tedious. Game is by no 
means plentiful everywhere, in this part of Africa. It is 
generally much scattered, and sometimes long stretches hold 
hardly any. But here and there one comes on a patch where 
it is abundant, being attracted by young grass or some such 
favourable conditions. Thus in one place, where there was 
young green grass, we passed through thousands of zebra, 
chiefly Grevy’s, and also saw a herd of giraffes and a few 
elands, as well as one or two rhinos, in the same neighbourhood, 
and heard the zebra crying all night. I had at this time a fit 
of bad shooting, such as sometimes attacks me. It is very 
much a matter of health, as affecting one’s nerves, I think ; 
and the cause of the bad shots is generally a tendency to flinch. 
In this way, I am ashamed to say, I lost several wounded 
animals at this time, among them a rhino, entirely through bad 
shooting. 
One day, while on the march, one of these blustering 
beasts came unpleasantly near me while I was, for once, un¬ 
armed—my boy at the time carrying my rifle. It charged up 
to within two or three yards of me, but stood then,—I stooping 
the while behind a bit of a shrub, ready to dodge,—and 
Shebane (my boy), who was some distance behind, chucked 
down everything, including my magazine rifle, and bolted. 
The rhino, however, after pausing a moment on the other side 
