THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 
29 
hard for some miles I overtook him, just before the sun 
went down, standing by the cow which he had ridden down 
and slain. It was long after nightfall before we reached 
camp, ready for a hot bath and a good supper. As always 
thereafter with anything we shot, we used the meat for 
food and preserved the skins for the National Museum. 
Both the cow and the bull were fat and in fine condition; 
but they were covered with ticks, especially wherever the 
skin was bare. Around the eyes the loathsome creatures 
swarmed so as to make complete rims, like spectacles; 
and in the armpits and the groin they were massed so that 
they looked like barnacles on an old boat. It is astonishing 
that the game should mind them so little; the wildebeest 
evidently dreaded far more the biting flies which hung 
around them; and the maggots of the bot-flies in their 
nostrils must have been a sore torment. Nature is mer¬ 
ciless indeed. 
The next day we rode some sixteen miles to the beautiful 
hills of Kitanga, and for over a fortnight were either Pease’s 
guests at his farm—ranch, as we should call it in the West 
—or were on safari under his guidance. 
