9 8 
EAST AFRICA AND ITS BIG GAME. 
thorns to keep out the wild beasts at night, or the 
Masai, in case they should put in an appearance, in 
the day-time. Lanjora is surrounded by more or less 
open plain on three sides, and on the south side 
towards Lake Jipe by thick bush. Our first night’s 
rest was broken by an inquisitive rhinoceros, who 
poked his ugly nose over the hedge, and so fright¬ 
ened one man that he let off his rifle. We were also 
somewhat disturbed by lions growling round the camp 
until the “ dawn of morn.” 
During the three days spent at Lanjora we each 
made a daily shooting trip in different directions, 
starting at 6 A.M., accompanied by five or six men 
to carry our rifles and bring home the meat killed, 
and returning to camp between 12 and 1 p.m., to avoid 
the excessive heat of the midday sun. We had very 
fair sport, and saw abundance of game, zebra, harte- 
beest, Grand, mpallah, oryx-bcisa, ostriches, giraffe, 
and steinbock, but found all excessively wild and 
difficult to approach ; the hartebeest and zebra were 
a great nuisance, as, when disturbed, they would 
gallop about wildly in every direction and move all 
the other game. 
The soil in these parts is very light and of a bright 
red colour; it is studded with ant-heaps, which in 
some cases attain the height of eight and ten feet 
above the surface of the ground and are several yards 
in circumference. These ant-heaps, the tops of which 
are perforated with innumerable holes a few inches 
in diameter, assume most grotesque shapes; in some 
