4 6 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
close by, but only managed to get one ; in the course 
of my stroll I came across the fresh form of a large 
animal, and after following its tracks in the long grass, 
for about 300 yards, got a splendid view of a fine 
lioness about eighty yards off. I had only a shot gun 
with me, so I turned round and seized the snider mv 
native was carrying, but unfortunately it was unloaded, 
and before I could push in a cartridge, the lioness had 
moved slowly into some thick bush close by and was 
lost. As it is only by the rarest accident that lions 
are met with in the day time, it was most unlucky to 
have missed this chance of a shot. 
Three men, who had tried to desert on the march 
this morning, were caught by the askari and made to 
walk into camp stark naked; on arriving they were 
perched on the top of our pile of baggage and all 
the men collected to jeer and hoot at them, after which 
they were handcuffed for the night. The elevation 
of our camp was about 900 feet and the heat had been 
great during the march, indeed it would have been 
almost insufferable but for a nice westerly breeze. 
All the men were a bit soft, and therefore travelled 
very slowly. 
December i$th .—Starting to-day in good time, at 
5 a.m., we were soon making a gradual descent of 
some 300 feet, after which the track led us through a 
perfectly level country alternating in bush and open 
plain. Here I had a long shot at a sable antelope; 
there were five of them altogether, but so wild that I 
could not get nearer than 250 yards, and apparently 
