334 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
very dry one, as is proved both by the appearance of the 
country and the poverty of its vegetation, and also by the fact 
that the natives find it does not pay to cultivate except in the 
damp ground close to the water. 
These thunderstorms of which I have spoken brought out 
a tinge of green grass over the open ground surrounding my 
TOPI HARTEBEE8TE 6 [Dcimaliscusjimela). 
camp—“ the country sweated green,” as a Zulu would have ex¬ 
pressed it. There was a broad level valley behind, overlooked 
by my ridge, and in this the topi antelope used often to collect 
towards evening or in the early morning. They were sometimes 
literally in thousands, the flat for a mile or more being covered 
with them, collected in one enormous herd. During March all 
the cows seemed to have calved, and I used to enjoy watching 
the gambols of the troops of light fawn-coloured calves, racing 
