48 ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH [ch. ii 
found in open bush country; but they live in the open 
plains by choice. 
I could not find out that they had fixed times for 
resting, feeding, and going to water. They and the 
hartebeest formed the favourite prey of the numerous 
lions of the neighbourhood, and I believe that the 
nights, even the moonlight nights, were passed by both 
animals under a nervous strain of apprehension, ever 
dreading the attack of their arch-enemy, and stampeding 
from it. Their stampedes cause the utmost exasperation 
to the settlers, for when in terror of the real or imaginary 
attack of a lion, their mad, heedless rush takes them 
through a wire fence as if it were made of twine and 
pasteboard. But a few months before my arrival a 
mixed herd of zebra and hartebeest, stampeded either 
by lions or wild-dogs, rushed through the streets of 
Nairobi, several being killed by the inhabitants, and 
one of the victims falling just outside the Episcopal 
Church. The zebras are nearly powerless when seized 
by lions, but they are bold creatures against less formid¬ 
able foes, trusting in their hoofs and their strong jaws; 
they will, when in a herd, drive off hyenas or wild-dogs, 
and will turn on hounds if the hunter is not near. If 
the lion is abroad in the daytime, they, as well as the 
other game, seem to realize that he cannot run them 
down; and though they follow his movements with 
great alertness, and keep at a respectful distance, they 
show no panic. Ordinarily, as I saw them, they did 
not seem very shy of men, but in this respect all the 
game displayed the widest differences, from time to 
time, without any real cause, that I could discern, for 
the difference. At one hour, or on one day, the zebra 
and hartebeest would flee from our approach when half 
a mile off, and again they would permit us to come 
