230 
ON SAFARI 
watching, till presently we began to be touched with 
a gradual sense of wonder at their curious inaction— 
why should five herds all be standing so precisely alike, 
neither feeding nor moving ? What small desultory 
movements occurred appeared to be limited to the 
hartebeests which accompanied each troop. There 
seemed to be a kind of sorting movement afoot. This 
alone does not seem to be a very important observation ; 
yet it proved, none the less, to be the key to the whole 
secret of securing them. 
“ The wildebeest drink twice daily—at sunrise and 
sunset; but the hartebeest being the keener-sighted of 
the two, the wildebeests employ these to pilot them¬ 
selves past any hidden dangers that may lurk between 
the uplands and the water below. This acknowledged 
superiority—the testimony of the greater animal to¬ 
wards the less—leads in a way to the general undoing 
of the whole scheme. 
“ The process of making-up the watering-parties is 
tedious, but at length gradually completed. Then the 
kongoni steps out ahead, examining the lay of the land 
and scrutinising every visible feature. As he advances, 
his confidence increases, and with it a fatal pride of 
place. He has made himself confident—unduly con¬ 
fident—of the safety of his immediate vicinity, as with 
head erect and muzzle extended he moves proudly 
forward, the thirsty wildebeests pressing nearer and 
nearer on his flank as the water is approached. No 
‘ monarch of the glen ’ exceeds him then in his lordly 
bearing, and the astonished hunter lies spellbound at 
the spectacle. The shepherded wildebeests lumber along 
behind, all muzzles down—what a study in contrasts ! 
“ Under no other circumstances would a hunter 
now remain unobserved—indeed, it may be added that 
under no other could he have attained a dominating 
position. 
“ Once having observed the line a pilot-kongoni is 
about to take, that position must be reached ; and the 
long delay of the game in ‘ sorting-out ’ allows time 
