CHAPTER IX 
BEYOND BABINGO 
(ill) ORYX, ELAND, IMPALA, JACKSON’S HARTEBEEST, 
DIKDIK, ETC. 
Hitherto we had not seen more than fifteen or 
twenty oryx in the whole district, but on the day after 
securing the second of my pair (the limit allowed by the 
game-laws) I fell in with a herd of no less than fifty of 
these stately antelopes. These presented a magnificent 
spectacle, their glancing horns resembling a forest of 
fixed bayonets as they moved in from the north-west in 
a long file, doubtless an arrival on migration. They 
were accompanied by zebras and gazelles, while several 
jackals hung on their flanks. 
It still remained for my brother to secure his pair of 
oryx, and a day or two later he succeeded in that object, 
getting two bulls out of this newly-arrived herd, the 
best carrying an exceptionally fine head of 34^ ins., 
besides bringing in a young male oryx as large as a goat, 
which he and the men had captured in the grass. At 
daybreak, when setting out, he had also bagged a big 
spotted hyena close to camp. The native boys kept 
shouting, “ Simba, simba ” (lion, lion); so that after 
making a good shot, running, at over 100 yards, W- 
was disappointed to find he had killed only a hyena. 
While W-was busy with his oryx, I devoted myself 
to impala, which here carry splendid heads; specimens 
of 28 ins. are not uncommon, but one I met with 
appeared to exceed that dimension. Of course it is 
always the biggest that escape, and that was the case 
97 h 
