50 ON AN EAST AFRICAN RANCH [ch. ir 
They were covered with ticks like the other game; on 
the groin, and many of the tenderest spots, the odious 
creatures were in solid clusters ; yet the zebras were all 
in high condition, with masses of oily yellow fat. One 
stallion weighed six hundred and fifty pounds. 
The hartebeest—Coke’s hartebeest, known locally by 
the Swahili name of “ kongoni ”—were at least as plenti¬ 
ful, and almost as tame, as the zebras. As with the 
other game of Equatorial Africa, we found the young of 
all ages; there seems to be no especial breeding-time, 
and no one period among the males corresponding to the 
rutting season among Northern animals. The hartebeests 
were usually inseparable companions of the zebras ; but, 
though they were by preference beasts of the bare plain, 
they were rather more often found in open bush than 
were their striped friends. There are in the country 
numerous anthills, which one sees in every stage of 
development, from a patch of bare earth with a few 
funnel-like towers, to a hillock a dozen feet high and as 
many yards in circumference. On these big anthills 
one or two kongoni will often post themselves as look¬ 
outs, and are then almost impossible to approach. The 
bulls sometimes fight hard among themselves, and, 
although their horns are not very formidable weapons, 
yet I knew of one case in which a bull was killed in 
such a duel, his chest being ripped open by his adver¬ 
sary’s horns ; and now and then a bull will kneel and 
grind its face and horns into the dust or mud. Often a 
whole herd will gather around and on an anthill, or even 
a small patch of level ground, and make it a regular 
stamping-ground, treading it into dust with their sharp 
hoofs. They have another habit which I have not seen 
touched on in the books. Ordinarily their droppings 
are scattered anywhere on the plain ; but again and 
