406 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
we reached a so-called “ water-hole,” upon which we had 
relied to renew our supplies. It proved to be merely the 
filthy remnant of a shallow swamp, half an acre in extent, and 
defiled both by game and baboons. The elands we were 
following, about forty strong, though passing close by the 
puddle, never actually touched the water at all. It was lucky 
for us that they had passed it by, since otherwise such a crowd 
would have consumed every remaining drop. We had actually 
to halt for a couple of hours awaiting the departure of two 
buffaloes which rolled and wallowed in the already noisome 
stagnation. We were constrained, nevertheless, to refill our 
empty girbas and water-skins with such foul fluid as remained. 
To revert to the earlier, one-day efforts, already noted as 
futile. Although often following spoor for hours and sometimes 
overhauling a herd to find that it consisted only of cows and 
young beasts, yet more often we were defeated by the abound¬ 
ing giraffes. In fact the whole venture sometimes degenerated 
into a sort of “ giraffe-drive,” with a score or more of these 
tall beasts scattered in a broad half-circle in front, and as 
many more on either flank. When a giraffe, on this hard 
iron-stone ground, breaks into his lumbering canter, the clatter 
of huge hoofs resounds for miles around, and gives alarm to 
every other game-beast from dikdik to giant eland. 
Of the hardships of those six days and nights in the 
“ iron-stone ” forest, sleeping on a bare ground - sheet and 
suffering pangs of thirst never previously conceived, details 
are unnecessary; rather let me attempt a brief summary of 
what we were able to observe of the habits of our giant quarry. 
Its total indifference to water has already been named ; nor 
did any evidence of the eland’s ever grazing come under our 
observation. Here and there along their track some grass 
had been cropped ; but since we never saw elands do this, and 
since there were also present many tetel (Jackson’s hartebeest), 
it seemed probable that the latter animals were responsible 
for what little cropped grass there was. The elands, whenever 
under view, confined themselves to browsing on the foliage of 
certain trees and shrubs—one in particular, a Gardenia with a 
waxy-looking leaf not unlike the tube-rose. Often the ground 
along their course was strewn with the branches and twigs of 
this shrub. The elands—like everything else, man, bird, and 
