ROOSEVELT IN WILDS OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 397 
better known to us as the gnoo, or horned horse. He also brought 
down a Thompson’s gazelle—a Tommy, in the patois of the residents. 
He was anxious to get a Grant’s gazelle, the massive horns of which 
are valued prizes, and the hunt was continued for several hours, but 
without meeting one of these wished-for natives of the plains. It is 
well to state here that there are some twenty species in all of the small 
and graceful variety of antelopes known as gazelles, the largest of 
them being the springbok, described on page 209. The speed of the 
small and beautiful animals of this species is common to all the gazelles, 
which are able to outrun the swiftest dogs. When taken alive the 
gazelle, though wild and timid by nature, is easily tamed and if cap¬ 
tured when young becomes quickly familiar with its captors. Its 
beauty and gentleness make it a favorite in many parts of southern 
Asia, where it is found as well as in Africa. 
The country in which Colonel Roosevelt and his party now were 
proved to be cool and pleasant despite its tropical location, its elevation 
above the sea reducing the temperature except under the intense rays 
of the midday sun. It held many white settlers, Britons and Boers, 
who had taken up and developed plantations in its fertile areas, and 
many of whom were ardent hunters. All these settlers vied in efforts 
to give their notable visitor a good time, and though he was the guest 
of Sir Alfred Pease, the houses of all were thrown open to him with 
the utmost freedom and warmest hospitality. 
It was a true hunter’s paradise in which the expedition now found 
itself, animals of a great variety of species roaming over the Kapiti 
and Athi plains in extraordinary abundance. The most common 
species appeared to be the zebra and the hartebeest, but there were 
also to be seen the wildebeest, several species of gazelle and various 
other antelopes. Hunters in that country are rarely out of sight 
of game. There were miles of it to be ridden through. But this 
was chiefly of the smaller grazing variety. The lion and the monster 
herbivora were naturally less numerous and needed to be sought in 
their lurking places in thicket or forest. They rarely appeared on the 
open plain. 
It is a somewhat general impression that Colonel Roosevelt is a 
marksman of unusually keen and sure aim, a trained expert with the 
