434 THE GIANT ELAND [ch. xy 
east changed to opal and amber and amethyst, the red 
splendour of the sunrise flooded the world, and to the 
heat of the night succeeded the more merciless heat of 
the day. Higher and higher rose the sun. The sweat 
streamed down our faces, and the bodies of the black 
men glistened like oiled iron. We might halt early in 
the forenoon, or we might have to march until noon, 
according to the distance from water-hole to water-hole. 
Occasionally in the afternoons, and once when we 
halted for a day to rest the porters, Kermit and I would 
kill buck for the table—hartebeest, reedbuck, and oribi. 
I also killed a big red ground monkey, with baboon-like 
habits. We had first seen the species on the Uasin 
Gishu, and had tried in vain to get it, for it was wary, 
never sought safety in trees, and showed both speed and 
endurance in running. Kermit killed a bull and a cow 
roan antelope. These so-called horse antelope are fine 
beasts, light roan in colour, with high withers, rather 
short curved horns, huge ears, and bold face-markings. 
Usually we found them shy, but occasionally very tame. 
They are the most truculent and dangerous of all ante¬ 
lope. This bull, when seemingly on the point of death, 
rose like a flash when Kermit approached, and charged 
him full tilt. Kermit had to fire from the hip, luckily 
breaking the animal’s neck. 
On the same day Loring had an interesting experi¬ 
ence with one of the small cormorants so common in 
this region. Previously, while visiting the rapids of the 
Nile below Nimule, I had been struck by the com¬ 
parative unwariness of these birds, one of them re¬ 
peatedly landing on a rock a few yards away from me, 
and thence slipping unconcernedly into the swift water 
—and, by the way, it was entirely at home in the 
boiling rapids. But the conduct of Loring’s bird was 
