DOWN THE NILE; THE GIANT ELAND 459 
panied by several ewes. We’ saw them from the boat, but 
they ran. Cuninghame and I, with Kongoni and Gou- 
vimali, hunted for them in vain for a couple of hours. Then 
we met a savage, a very tall, lean Nuer. He was clad in 
a fawn skin, and carried two spears, one with a bright, 
sharp, broad-bladed head, the other narrow-headed with 
villainous barbs. His hair, much longer than that of a 
west coast negro, was tied back. As we came toward him 
he stood on one leg, with the other foot resting against it, 
and, raising his hand, with fingers extended, he motioned 
to us with what in civilized regions would be regarded as a 
gesture bidding us halt. But he meant it as a friendly 
greeting, and solemnly shook hands with all four of us, 
including the gun-bearers. By signs we made him under¬ 
stand that we were after game; so was he; and he led 
us to the little herd of kob. Kongoni, as usual, saw them 
before any one else. From an ant-hill I could make out 
the buck’s horns and his white ears, which he was con¬ 
tinually flapping at the biting flies that worried him; when 
he lowered his head I could see nothing. Finally, he looked 
fixedly at us; he was a hundred and fifty yards off and I 
had to shoot standing on the peak of the ant-heap, and 
aim through the grass, guessing where his hidden body 
might be; and I missed him. At the shot the does went off 
to the left, but he ran to the right, once or twice leaping 
high; and when he halted, at less than two hundred yards, 
although I could still only see his horns, I knew where his 
body was; and this time I killed him. We gave most of 
the meat to the Nuer. He was an utterly wild savage, and 
when Cuninghame suddenly lit a match he was so fright¬ 
ened that it was ail we could do to keep him from bolting. 
