34 
ON SAFARI 
difficult to do justice to all. Bushbuck inhabited the 
dense “lion-scrub 55 that fringed the east river. These, 
like the waterbuck, are nocturnal. We saw them at 
dawn; and, shortly before sundown, they again showed 
up outside the jungle, feeding among the scattered trees. 
One special buck attracted my attention—coal-black he 
appeared in his glossy pile. Next evening, punctual to 
a minute, he appeared with his three does. The river 
here, to our great vexation, we found impassable owing 
to the thorny jungle that fringed it. Presently Elmi 
discovered a sort of tunnel about 3 ft. high—pre¬ 
sumably the property of a hippo—and down this we 
had crawled nearly to the water’s edge, when, from our 
side, something (we could not see what) plunged with 
sounding splash into the pool. “ Big croc, 55 whispered 
Elmi. It was very tantalising, but the result was that, 
after ascertaining the depth to exceed a yard, our coveted 
bushbuck ram was left to feed in peace on the other 
bank. An intense aversion to reptiles—especially great 
subaquatic reptiles—possesses most of us, and a recol¬ 
lection of that picture in Arthur Neumann’s Elephant 
Hunting , p. 309, does not allay it. 
Then there were the “ grass-antelopes.” Every day 
as we traversed the bush in search of bigger things, the 
ubiquitous duiker and steinbuck kept bouncing out from 
long grass or thin scrub at thirty or forty yards’ distance 
Both these little antelopes move very high by the stern, 
and being fat to boot, convey an idea of exaggerated 
footballs as they dive away through the bush. Smaller 
still are the dikdiks, also numerous, and all hereabouts 
of the “ Cavendish ” species (Madoqua cavendishi). A 
male shot here weighed only 11 lbs., yet was a thorough¬ 
bred little antelope at that, with annulated horns a trifle 
over 3 ins. in length, and tiny hoofs on the end of long 
legs no thicker than a pencil—a perfect miniature. 
One morning on the Enderit, coming round a bend, 
I “jumped” close by a heavy, thick-set beast that, with 
horns laid back flat along the withers, crashed away 
through the brushwood. Not knowing what it was, I 
