Aug. 21, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
289 
Ivanting to cross, and rather a heated discussion 
ensued as to who should cross first. However, 
[ gave way to one lot, agreeing to cross second, 
which we did, but this detained us some hours, 
As some of their camels balked. The methods 
ised to induce them to move forward would, I 
hink, startle the S. P. C. A. Ropes were tied 
o their forelegs and while one lot of men pulled 
m these, a second lot pulled prickly branches 
hrough their hind legs and under their tails, 
t is a curious fact, but the Abyssinian ponies 
eemed terrified at the camels, so that passing 
hem in a narrow trail was very difficult. 
On the other side of the river I saw a good 
lerd of game, mostly hartebeeste and zebra, a 
lifferent species from those we have in British 
•last Africa. These are larger. There were 
Iso a good many oryx and smaller antelope. I 
ried in every way to get up to these, but they 
vere too wary. Now it was almost a necessity 
0 kill fresh meat every day, as my caravan was 
irge and a good deal was required to feed it, 
nd if I could not get game I should soon be 
orced to buy oxen for food. After trying for 
jome hours I at last got a long shot at a harte- 
eeste which I hit hard and got at last with the 
id of my boy on his pony, and on my way back 
shot two galinuk. 
That night we camped at some beautiful 
prings, green grass and splendid water, a regu- 
ir oasis. Around these springs was a rather 
trge swamp, and as we had been traveling pretty 
ast I thought a good day’s rest would be bene- 
cial to all and that I could enjoy a good hunt, 
'here was a quantity of fresh lion spoor around 
le springs; the surrounding country was very 
roken and was covered with thick prickly bush, 
nd so was first rate cover for lions. Not far 
tom the water we found a half eaten zebra, 
vidently killed the preceding night. I decided 
) sit up that night over the kill. During my 
•own journey I had the luck to have brilliant 
loonlight and this very much assisted me in 
iy plans. When eating supper I told Sahid to 
te most careful that the horses were securely 
istened and that the horse guards were to keep 
ieir eyes open. I gave my gun bearer my shot- 
uu and I took my rifle. Making a rough shel- 
r, we remained by the carcass till the moon 
ent down, but saw nothing, though there were 
ons around. I must own I was in an infernal 
ink while returning to our camp in the dark, 
id whistled and sung to myself so as to make 
; much noise as possible. The lions must have 
atered at the other spring. There were sev- 
'al hyenas around that made night hideous 
ith their dismal howling. On reaching camp 
le head boy told me that the horses had been 
try uneasy and had two or three times -tried 
- break away and stampede. That is the diffi- 
llty with a large bunch. It is extraordinary 
iw all at once the fright seems to go through 
herd. They will be feeding quietly when, like 
jhtning, off go the whole bunch with heads 
id tails up. For the time being they seem to 
> mad and do not notice where they are going 
’ anything else. The only chance is to jump 
1 a horse and go with them and in time you 
ill be able to turn them, back, but do not at- 
mpt it at first; that will be to court disaster. 
Early next morning I started to the west of 
e springs and soon saw a lone oryx which I 
lot with little trouble. It was a fair bull, but 
id one horn a great deal longer than the other. 
There were some zebra, but I make it a rule 
never to shoot these unless meat is very badly 
needed. 1 can see no sport in it. It is very 
well if you want one or two for specimens, but 
apart from that, no. We came across more lion 
spoor and once I think we got very near one, 
but never had the luck to view. I shot another 
oryx, I am sorry to say a cow, but I mistook 
her for a bull. There were three of them and 
I picked out the one I thought the best, but 
unfortunately it was the wrong one. We did 
not sit up that night over the kill, as I wished 
to make a very early start dnd was very tired, 
but as things generally turn out, the lions re¬ 
turned in the night to the kill. We knew they 
were around, as they could be heard grunting, 
and it was quite a job to keep the horses quiet. 
The following night we again got to good 
running water and I enjoyed a rare evening’s 
sport, partridge shooting, killing 15^2 brace. 
They were very easy shooting, but the Abys- 
sinians could not understand a right and left 
and seemed to think it wonderful. I also got 
a dik-dik, of which I saw several, but the little 
beggars lie- very close and stick to the bush. 
The night passed quietly, but the next morning, 
as the feed was so good, I thought that before 
starting I would graze the horses for two or 
three hours and have another go at the par¬ 
tridges. Hardly had we turned the horses loose 
than they were off in a flash. It was as if an 
electric shock had gone through the bunch. 
Luckily we had some still tied and the boys 
just threw themselves on these barebacked and 
followed the herd, and in a few minutes were 
out of sight. I was in an awful state, not know¬ 
ing how this would end. I sent out nearly 
everyone and after that there was only one 
thing to do and that was to wait. In about four 
hours they commenced to come back and by 
sundown were all in. I counted and found not 
one missing. They told me that they had gone 
on for miles and had had great difficulty in turn¬ 
ing the bunch. When they stampeded it was 
like a roar of thunder, a fine sight, but one 1 
do not wish to see again, especially if the horses 
belong to rhe. That night everything was made 
extra secure. Twice they tried to break away 
and seemed very excitable and nervous. 
The next evening on counting when the herd 
came in, which I always did night and morn¬ 
ing, I found two mules missing. On inquiring 
into the matter the Somali boy Mohammed said 
I had made a mistake, but this I was certain 
I had not done, and to make sure, counted again. 
Yes, two mules were short. We were camped 
at the foot of a hill at the top of which was 
a rather large Abyssinian village. I sent up 
word to the head man or Ras that I wished to 
see him. He came down shortly, accompanied 
by about ten soldiers, and brought me a present 
of milk, eggs, chicken and a sheep. He was 
most suave and polite and explained that he was 
always glad to see and welcome European's and 
help them in any way he cotild. I explained 
to him what had occurred and that I had lost 
two mules, that they must have been taken when 
the herd was grazing, and that the horse guard 
either did not ’see or connived at their, being 
stolen. He promised that if I would stay over 
a day he would send out his soldiers, in spite 
of it being a holiday, to look for them. Al¬ 
though I was in a hurry to get down to Djibou¬ 
ti!, as I thought my steamer would have come 
in, and there would be heavy demurrage to pay, 
I decided to stop over and asked him to send 
me down a man early in the morning to show 
me the best places for game. This he did and 
I started out early with his guide. 
The ground we passed over was hilly and 
covered with brush, like all that in Africa, full 
of thorns. You cannot get out of their way; 
they get in you somehow. I had taken the shot¬ 
gun as well as the rifle, as there were great 
numbers of guinea fowl. This day I saw my 
first herd of greater koodoo. I had shot two 
or three in Central Africa, but they were ex¬ 
ceedingly scarce. There were about twenty-five 
in the bunch. They are without doubt a fine 
animal. Getting close to them was easy and 1 
killed two bulls without moving. This was 
enough, but I do not think I got the best bulls. 
It is so hard to pick out and be certain of the 
right animal, and if you do get the best, .you 
never believe it and always think afterward that 
you should have shot the one you first intended 
to. I returned slowly to camp, shooting guinea 
fowl on the way. As I said, there were quanti¬ 
ties of these and I enjoyed some really good 
hard shots. Once I almost stepped on a big 
snake which I shot, but it made me feel quite 
sick for a moment. Here is a bit of ad¬ 
vice worth having. I always carry with me some 
Condys fluid, not permanganate of potash cry¬ 
stals, but the liquid in a glass-stoppered bottle 
and a hypodermic syringe. If ever you have 
the bad luck to be struck by a snake, lose no 
time, bind the limb tightly above the bite, cut 
around the wound with a knife and inject some 
undiluted Condy’s fluid with the hypodermic 
syringe. It may be the means of saving you 
very serious trouble. Of course this must be 
done as quickly as possible. 
On getting near camp I heard a great row 
going on and could see that something was the 
matte'r. My Somali boy Sahid, with three Abys- 
sinians belonging to my caravan, had found one 
of the missing mules packed in a caravan travel¬ 
ing up country. They had brought the mule 
and also two of the Abyssinians to my camp. 
There was much talking and gesticulating while 
the matter was explained to me. I at once 
sent for the Ras, who returned me rather a 
cheeky message, saying that the Feringhee had 
better go to him. This I would not do, but 
sent up Sahid with the two mule thieves under 
escort to explain matters. They all returned in 
about an hour’s time and Sahid told me that 
the Ras had fined him five dollars for some un¬ 
explained reason and that the Ras would come 
and see me later. He arrived shortly after¬ 
ward with his escort, but his manners were very 
much changed from the time he made his first 
visit. He was most truculent and cheeky. I 
was sitting on my bed in the tent with the table 
in front of me, when he was ushered in and 
asked what I wanted. “First of all five dollars 
down on that table, quick and lively,” I an¬ 
swered. I saw he had the five dollars in his 
hand and so continued: “Kindly put those five 
dollars on the table.” This he did. I then 
asked him what was his reason for taking five 
dollars from one of my boys. He answered 
that it was a fine and that he had fined Sahid 
because he had no witness to vouch for the 
veracity of what he said about the theft. “But 
there is the mule, what more do you want,” l 
asked. I told him plainly that it was all hum- 
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