A TWELFTH ON THE EQUATOR 
53 
while we, being in the hollow below his sight, were free 
to continue our advance. At little over 100 yards the 
tips of those thick-set back-bent horns showed up above 
intervening bush, and, firing low through the foliage, 
judging where the chest would be, a dull echoing response 
told that another grand beast lay dead. 
Jackson’s hartebeest is the finest of the genus found 
in East Africa, and closely related to the red hartebeest 
(.Bubalis caama) of the Cape. It is probably the 
northern form of one species, for in some specimens a 
trace of the black facial “ blaze ” characteristic of B. 
caama is found retained in B. jacksoni —in this example 
it extended from above the nostrils half-way to the base 
of the horn-pedicles. Other specimens obtained later 
showed no sign of this, and even the dark-red pelt is 
not an invariable distinction, for one bull shot later was 
quite pale in body-colour—lighter, indeed, than B. cokei. 
The dead-weight of this animal we estimated at full 
400 lbs., against little over 300 lbs. in B. cokei; and 
the horns taped 22 ins., by logins. in basal circumference, 
with a span of 7J ins. between tips. Irides yellow. 
Meanwhile, our previously-wounded bull had dis¬ 
appeared. We made every possible effort to recover 
him, following for miles and sending out scouts to watch 
the vultures, but never again was he seen. 
Camp was now five miles distant, the white tents 
mere specks across a shimmering plain, and it was 
two o’clock ere we reached them. 
Numerous ostriches on this plain seemed to challenge 
an attempt to stalk; but this is an undertaking of no 
small difficulty. The immense height of these giant 
birds—they stand about 8 ft.—enables them to see 
over any ordinary covert. They walk, moreover, when 
feeding along, faster than one can run—run, that is, all 
doubled up and obstructed by strong grass and intercept¬ 
ing creepers. My brother, nevertheless, secured here a 
cock ostrich under the following circumstances. Afar 
on the plain two ostriches were rolling on a bare patch 
among the grass—taking a dust-bath. Neither W- 
