220 TO LAKE NAIVASHA (ch. ix 
latter if it could have been avoided ; but in the circum¬ 
stances I do not see how it was possible to help it. The 
meat was not wasted ; on the contrary, it was a godsend, 
not only to our own porters, but to the natives round 
about, many of whom were on short commons on account 
of the drought. 
Bringing over the launch, we worked until after dark 
to get the bull out of the difficult position in which he 
lay. It was nearly seven o’clock before we had him 
fixed for towing on one quarter, the row-boat towing on 
the other, by which time two hippos were snorting and 
blowing within a few yards of us, their curiosity much 
excited as to what was going on. The night was over¬ 
cast ; there were drenching rain squalls, and a rather 
heavy sea was running, and I did not get back to camp 
until after three. Next day the launch fetched in the 
rest of the hippo meat. 
From this camp we went into Naivasha, on the line 
of the railway. In many places the road was beautiful, 
leading among the huge yellow trunks of giant thorn- 
trees, the ground rising sheer on our left as we cantered 
along the edge of the lake. We passed impalla, 
tommies, zebra, and wart-hog; and in one place saw 
three waterbuck cows feeding just outside the papyrus 
at high noon. They belonged to a herd that lived in 
the papyrus and fed on the grassy flats outside; and 
their feeding in the open exactly at noon was another 
proof of the fact that the custom of feeding in the early 
morning and late evening is with most game entirely 
artificial and the result of fear of man. Birds abounded. 
Parties of the dark-coloured ant-eating wheatear sang 
sweetly from trees and bushes, and even from the roofs 
of the settlers’ houses. The tri-coloured starlings— 
black, white, and chestnut—sang in the air, as well as 
