74 
ON SAFARI 
tribes. These, flushed with victory, dashed on the 
British post; but its solitary white occupant, Mr. Hyde 
Baker, aided by a handful of Nubian askaris, held the 
savages at bay for five days, till assistance arrived. 
Such incidents—merely the grinding of the mill of 
progress—are, I presume, printed in Blue-books, but 
seldom reach the average British reader. 
Baringo now enjoys the reputation of being one of 
the most favoured regions in the British Protectorate in 
respect of its big game. There remains, nevertheless, 
room for disappointment. For so extensive, and as yet 
so little understood, are the migratory movements of 
the antelope-tribe, as also of giraffe, rhino and other 
game-animals, that a district which swarms with them 
one month may be found deserted the next. The 
materials at present available are too scanty either to 
determine the extent and dates of these migrations, or 
to correlate them with seasonal or other causes. It is 
one object of these chapters to contribute thereto such 
gleams of light as were furnished by our experiences at 
Baringo and elsewhere in East Africa. 
Shortly before leaving England, I had received a 
letter from Major C. S. Cumberland, who was then at 
Baringo, that he was disappointed with that district. 
He wrote as follows :—“ Baringo, March 29 [1904]. 
This is supposed to be a good game-country, but I have 
seen very little, and what there is, having been much 
hunted, is very wild. It will give you an idea of what 
this country is like this year to say that I have not 
halted in any one of my camps for more than one day. 
In my opinion the beasts have shifted owing to the 
drought.” 
Under the impression that if March were unfavour¬ 
able, August might prove to be the reverse, we reached 
Baringo in the latter month. On arrival, Mr. Archer 
told us that five or six weeks earlier, at the end of the 
rains, game had been extremely abundant a few marches 
to the northward. Thus an entry in his diary on July 
11 mentions seeing during the morning, while riding 
