158 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
We had two canvas cloths with us, which Heller had 
instructed me to put over anything I shot, in order to 
protect it from the sun; so, covering both bulls, I 
left a porter with them, and sent in another to notify 
Heller, who came out with an ox-waggon to bring in 
the skins and meat. I had killed these two eland bulls, 
as well as the buck gazelle (bringing down each with a 
single bullet) within three-quarters of an hour after 
leaving camp. 
I wanted a topi, and continued the hunt. The 
country swarmed with the herds and flocks of the 
Masai, who own a wealth of live stock. Each herd of 
cattle and donkeys or flock of sheep was guarded by 
its herdsmen—bands of stalwart, picturesque warriors, 
with their huge spears and ox-hide shields, occasionally 
strolled by us; and we passed many bomas, the kraals 
where the stock is gathered at night, with the mud huts 
of the owners ringing them. Yet there was much game 
in the country also, chiefly zebra and hartebeest; the 
latter, according to their custom, continually jumping 
up on ant-hills to get a clearer view of me, and some¬ 
times standing on them motionless for a considerable 
time, as sentries to scan the country around. 
At last we spied a herd of topi, distinguishable from 
the hartebeest at a very long distance by their dark 
colouring, the purples and browns giving the coat a 
heavy shading, which when far off, in certain lights, 
looks almost black. Topi, hartebeest, and wildebeest 
belong to the same group, and are specialized, and their 
peculiar physical and mental traits developed, in the 
order named. The wildebeest is the least normal and 
most grotesque and odd-looking of the three, and his 
idiosyncrasies of temper are also the most marked. The 
hartebeest comes next, with his very high withers, long 
