CHAPTER XVIII 
A. MONTH ON THE ATHI RIVER 
(il) IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 1906 
Fifteen months later, namely, towards the Christmas 
of 1905, we returned to East Africa, and this year com¬ 
menced our operations on the Athi Plains. Riding out 
from Nairobi, we camped the first evening at “ Nine- 
Mile Spruit/’ where snipe were abundant, also big fran- 
colin (Scolopax nigripennis and Francolinus uluensis) ; 
and W-fired the first shot of the expedition at 
pelicans. We reached the Athi River, above “ Lone- 
Tree,” the following day. 
Although the East-African brindled gnu, or wdiite- 
bearded wildebeest ( Connochoetes albojubatus), still 
formed one main objective, yet meanwhile our self-con¬ 
fidence—or pride, whichever it were—had induced us 
to place the lion in the forefront of our programme. 
The lioness we had already slain : the lion now formed 
our first ambition. 
The higher plateaux of the Athi Plains usually drop 
towards the lower levels by the river in a series of broken 
steps; but this drop, at the point we had selected, is 
confined to a single escarpment, fairly abrupt and 200 
to 300 ft. in height. At intervals of a mile or two, the 
face of this escarpment is furrowed transversely by deep 
and narrow ravines, which during the rains form water¬ 
courses draining the higher ground, and which also 
afford at that season , a favourite shelter for lions. 
Four or five such ravines lay within reach of our 
present camp, while many more were accessible by shifting 
its position along the river. 
Now, although lions abound on the Athi, yet neither 
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