24 
MOMBASA TO NAIROBI . 
United States, it is a good opportunity to briefly note the special and 
less known victims of the Roosevelt rifles and shotguns; also to describe 
one of the most enterprising and modern cities of Africa, which for 
several months, was to be the nucleus of the expedition. The big game 
country in all its glory was yet to be entered beyond Nairobi, and the 
Kings of beasts which make it their home will be treated in their logical 
order. The most interesting smaller game bagged by the party up to 
this point, were the wildbeest, impalla, water buck, Thompson’s and 
Grant’s gazelles and the wart hog. 
The species of wildbeest bagged by the Roosevelt expedition is the 
white-bearded gnu, the only kind now common to East Africa. Its 
general appearance is familiar. If the genus is ever exterminated, the 
final undoing of the beast can be traced to its inordinate curiosity, which 
it shares in common with the antelope and gazelle; but the trait is most 
abnormally developed in the wildbeest. The animals go in herds of from 
twenty to fifty, and as they prefer such open, sunny ground as the 
Kapiti and Atlii plains, they stand out more ponderous than they really 
are, hunters not infrequently mistaking them for rhinos at a distance. 
The bulls exhibit the same fury toward red as the domesticated article 
and although they are stupid looking beasts, as they stand motionless in 
the open plain with the hot sun shining down on them, they are really 
so alert that other species of game will often impress an old bull who 
has no herd of his own kind to do sentry duty. When a herd of wild- 
beests is disturbed, the animals usually go off at a lumbering gallop 
which takes them over the ground at a pace which usually puts the 
best horse to shame. When in motion their tails rapidly vibrate, which 
is also a peculiarity of the galloping giraffe. 
The impalla and water buck, of which both Mr. Roosevelt and 
Kermit obtained some fine specimens, are among the most graceful of 
African antelopes. They are generally found together—the impalla 
with slim bodies of bright red with beautiful spreading horns, and the 
water buck with long shaggy hair of a less pronounced red, with a 
bolder sweep of the horns. The old African hunters who were with 
Mr. Roosevelt were well aware that the impalla and water buck have 
been classed as the most regular in their habits of all known animals. 
In this particular they give an exhibition of instinct which is among 
the most remarkable in the animal world. 
