308 
THE GUASO NYERO 
[CH. XI 
hands high at the withers and weighed about eight 
hundred and thirty pounds , 1 according to the Seton 
beam. I shot another kangani just at nightfall, a mile 
or so from camp, as it drank in a wild, tree-clad gorge 
of the river. I was alone, strolling quietly through the 
dusk, along the margin of the high banks by the stream, 
and saw a mixed herd of zebras coming down to a well- 
worn drinking-place, evidently much used by game, on 
the opposite side of the river. They were alert and 
nervous, evidently on the lookout for both lions and 
crocodiles. I singled out the largest, the leader of the 
troop, and shot it across the stream. I have rarely 
taken a shot among more picturesque surroundings. 
At our final camp on the river, before leaving it on 
our week’s steady trek southward to Neri, we found a 
spot in which game abounded. It was about ten miles 
back from the river, a stretch of plain sparsely covered 
with thorn-trees, broken by koppies, and bounded by 
chains of low T , jagged mountains, with an occasional 
bold, isolated peak. The crags and cliff walls were 
fantastically carved and channelled by the weathering 
of ages in that dry climate. It was a harsh, unlovely 
spot in the glare of the hot daylight; but at sunset it 
was very lovely, with a wild and stern beauty. 
Here the game abounded, and was not wary. Before 
starting out on our week’s steady marching I wished to 
1 The aggregate of the weights of the different pieces was 778 
pounds ; the loss of blood and the drying of the pieces of flesh in 
the intense heat of the sun we thought certainly accounted for 50 
pounds more. The stallion was not fat. At any rate, it weighed 
between 800 and 850 pounds. Its testicles, though fully developed, 
had not come down out of the belly skin. One of those shot by 
Kermit showed the same peculiarity. Cuninghame says it is a 
common occurrence with this species. Moreover, the stallions did 
not have their canine teeth developed. 
