220 
THE KILIMA-NJABO EXPEDITION. 
there were only low scattered bushes covering the 
plain. This was emphatically the game country of 
Africa, and wherever you find this kind of landscape, 
no matter in what part of the tropical continent, you 
may be sure it is inhabited by the big African herbivora. 
We pitched the tent in a snug little corner by the 
river-side, a kind of peninsula surrounded on three 
sides by the water, and secured from outward view by 
bushes and trees. I spent most of the day roaming 
about with a gun, but only killed a zebra (Uquus Chap- 
mani), which had, however, a very handsome hide. A 
great deal of game was visible from the summit of the 
little cone, rising on the left bank of the river, but it 
was evidently very wary, owing to the recent inroads 
of Taita and Kamba hunters. 
It Avas at night, however, that I hoped to bring 
down a good bag, by concealing myself at the river¬ 
side, and shooting the animals as they came to drink. 
The banks of the Lumi were, as already mentioned, 
clothed with a narrow band of dense forest. Here 
and there gaps had been formed in the dense array of 
trees, and through these the thirsty animals had made 
a broad way down to the water. The ground would 
be pounded into red dust, all turf or vegetation de¬ 
stroyed, and even the tree-trunks on either side of the 
tunnel—for such it was through the dense wood— 
polished up to a certain height by the passage of 
crowds of great hustling beasts. Such a place as 
this, there Avas no mistaking. That it had been recently 
frequented we could tell by the abundance of fresh 
exuvise strewing the entrance ; moreover, here Avere 
bones, skulls,horns, and other fragments of the lions’ re¬ 
pasts, Avhich, however thoroughly they might have been 
picked by hyenas, vultures, and ants, still to the practised 
