OUR NATURALISTS 
137 
CH. Vi] 
Heller was soon on the ground with his skinning-tent 
and skinners, and the Boer farmer went back to fetch 
the ox-waggon, on which the skins and meat were 
brought into camp. Laymen can hardly realize, and I 
certainly did not, what an immense amount of work is 
involved in preparing the skins of large animals, such 
as buffalo, rhino, hippo, and above all elephant, in hot 
climates. On this first five weeks’ trip we got over 
seventy skins, including twenty-two species, ranging in 
size from a dikdik to a rhino, and all of these Heller 
prepared and sent to the Smithsonian. Mearns and 
Loring were just as busy shooting birds and trapping 
small mammals. Often, while Heller would be off for 
a few days with Kermit and myself, Mearns and Loring 
would be camped elsewhere, in a region better suited 
for the things they were after. While at Juja Farm 
they went down the Nairobi in a boat to shoot water- 
birds, and saw many more crocodiles and hippo than I 
did. Loring is a remarkably successful trapper of small 
mammals. I do not believe there is a better collector 
anywhere. Dr. Mearns, in addition to birds and 
plants, never let pass the opportunity to collect any¬ 
thing else, from reptiles and fishes to land shells. More¬ 
over, he was the best shot in our party. He killed 
two great bustards with the rifle, and occasionally shot 
birds like vultures on the wing with a rifle. I do not 
believe that three better men than Mearns, Heller, and 
Loring, could be found anywhere for such an expedition 
as ours. 
Three days passed before we were again successful 
with buffalo. On this occasion we started about eight 
in the morning, having come to the conclusion that 
the herd was more likely to leave the papyrus late 
than early. Our special object was to get a cow. We 
