[11] J. L. Krapff, “Travels, Researches, and Missionary Labours, etc., in Eastern Africa” (1860), pp. 43-45.
[12] P. Rigby, “Remarks on the North-East Coast of Africa, and the Various Tribes by which it is Inhabited.” Trans. Bombay Geog. Soc., vol. ii. (1844), p. 80.
CHAPTER XI.
DOWN THE WASO NYIRO ONCE MORE.
We send to M’thara for guides—Sport at the “Green Camp”—Non-return of the men sent to M’thara—Our anxiety—Their safe return with guides—We continue our march down the river—Desertion of the guides—We push on—Bad country—No game—We meet some of the Somalis’ men—News of the Rendili—Loss of our camels—In sight of the “promised land.”
Early on the morning following our arrival at the “Green Camp” we despatched three men to M’thara with a message to N’Dominuki, asking him to send us a couple of Wandorobbo guides from Embe, as we wished to go across country to Lololokwe, and, if we deemed it necessary, further north to Mount Nyiro, at the south end of Lake Rudolph. The rest of the men went back to the two dead rhinoceros to obtain a supply of meat. George went out during the day and shot three grantei. In the afternoon El Hakim also went out shooting. He took the ·450 Express, as he intended shooting grantei only. He secured four. On his way back to camp he was annoyed by a rhinoceros which had the temerity to stalk him, so waiting for his pursuer he neatly planted a bullet in the creature’s brain, at a distance of about ten yards. I have read that the skull of a rhinoceros is invulnerable, especially from the front, but on examining El Hakim’s beast, I noted that it had been shot from the front, the bullet entering the temple and penetrating the skull at precisely the proper angle, reaching the brain. There was no blood, the bullet-hole being so clean-cut that the skin closed over the wound in such a manner as to make it difficult to discover where it had been hit. It was as neat and workman-like a job as I have ever seen.
We stayed at the “Green Camp” for some days, occasionally shooting game to supply the larder, cleaning our weapons, mending our clothes and boots, and otherwise occupying our time to good purpose. A zebra which I shot supplied us with hide, and we repaired our travel-torn boots by the simple process of stitching a piece of raw hide over them with a surgical needle and thread, and then hanging the boots out in the air. The hide shrank on as it dried, and formed a fairly well-fitting though clumsy covering; but it was only a temporary arrangement at best, and required constant renewing, as over rough, stony ground the hide would wear through in three marches.
On the plains to the eastward of the camp roamed vast herds of game—zebra, oryx, water-buck, and grantei. Rhinos were disgustingly frequent, El Hakim shooting two more that had evinced an impertinent curiosity regarding his movements, when he was taking a walk abroad one afternoon. The rhinoceros were all of the black or prehensile-lipped variety of the Rhinoceros bicornis, and we found that they had, on the average, much smaller horns than other specimens of the same family south of Kenia.
We all kept in splendid health, George and I in particular being burnt almost black by the fierce sun; and we felt that we should be content to remain where we were for an indefinite period. Game was more than plentiful, the climate was glorious, and we were free as the pure air we breathed. Only those who have been placed in similar circumstances can appreciate the full value of that word “free.” We did precisely what seemed good to us in our own eyes. We rose early, bathed in the warm spring, ate our breakfast, and then went shooting, or, if disinclined for that, we sat in a folding-chair in the shade of the trees and read, or mended our clothes, ever and anon raising our eyes to watch the herds of game walking steadily past our camp on their way down to the river to drink. In time we got to know the various herds, and even to recognize individual members of the same herd. The different herds also had their regular times for drinking, which never varied by more than a few minutes. The water-buck were the earliest; they came down just after sunrise. At ten o’clock precisely the graceful grantei would come down in herds, scouted by the young bucks. They were followed at midday by the oryx; and at four in the afternoon the zebra arrived in their turn. The rhinoceros, on the contrary, went down at all times, whenever they felt inclined, though they usually drink at night.
It was a perfectly Arcadian existence, which we left with very real regret when the exigences of travel compelled us once more to resume our weary march over the sun-scorched desert country down-river.
During our stay my shot-gun was not idle. In the evenings there were numerous doves in the vicinity, which made a welcome change in our menu; and now and again I secured a few grouse. Hares, too, were always obtainable with a little trouble. One night, about eleven o’clock, we were called out of bed by the sentry, who put his head into our tent, and in an awestruck whisper ejaculated, “Kuja kutasamo m’bogo, Bwana” (Come and see the buffalo, master). We went outside, where we were joined by El Hakim, who had also been called. It was a brilliant moonlight night, and the country was almost as clearly visible as in the daytime. On the bank of our little stream, just opposite the camp, a mighty herd of buffalo was marching along, utterly unconscious of our proximity. They showed up wonderfully distinct in the brilliant moonlight, as they stalked majestically past. A passing cloud covered the face of the moon, and the weird sense of power and grandeur was further heightened by the temporary obscurity, as the now dim and ghost-like procession moved past. We gazed at them with a feeling that was half exultation and half awe, as we reflected that to us had been vouchsafed a sight at once so impressive and now, alas! so rare.[13]