I Laughed
Heartily At Landaalu, And Chaffed Him Unmercifully
For Allowing Himself, A Masai, To Be Put To Flight
By A Few Bees.
This the jolly fellow took very
good-humouredly, saying that if he only had a
jacket like mine he would soon go and get the
honey.
I gave him my jacket at once, and a
most comical figure he cut in it, as it was very
short and he had practically nothing else on.
When the nest was properly examined, however,
it was found that the bees had eaten all the
honey; so after taking some photographs of
our guides at work among the bees we all
proceeded homewards, reaching camp about
dusk, with nothing to show for our long day's
hunt.
We were met by Sabaki, who was in a great
state of excitement, and who started to explain
in very bad Swahili how he had come across the
dead eland. Misunderstanding what he said, I
told my friend that Sabaki had found the eland
which he had shot in the morning, and rejoiced
heartily with him at this piece of good luck.
On viewing the head, however, we could not
understand it, as it was very much bigger than
the one he had fired at; and it was not till
later in the evening when I visited Landaalu,
curled up at the camp fire, that the mystery was
explained. He greeted me by saying that after
all we had not gone to Baringo for nothing the
previous day, and on my asking him what he
meant he told me about the finding of the eland,
taking, it for granted that I knew it was mine.
I quickly called up Sabaki and after some trouble
got from him the whole story of how he had
found the body close to my little hillock and near
where my men were searching for it. So I broke
the truth gently to my friend, who at once
acknowledged my claim and congratulated me on
my good fortune.
How great this good fortune was I did not
know till long after; but even then, when I came
to examine the head and skin carefully, I found
that they both differed materially from those of
any other eland that I had ever seen. For one
thing, there was no long tuft of hair on the
forehead, while from the lower corner of each
eye ran an incomplete white stripe similar to,
though smaller than, those found in the giant
eland. The sides of the forehead were of a
reddish colour, and on the lower part of the face
there was a much larger brown patch than is to
be seen on the ordinary eland. The striping on
the body was very slight, the chief markings
being three lines across the withers. On my
return to England in April. I sent the head to
Rowland Ward's to be set up, and while there it
was seen by Mr. R. Lydekker, F.R.S., of the
British Museum, the well-known naturalist and
specialist in big game, who wrote to tell me that
it possessed great zoological interest, as showing
the existence of a hitherto unknown race of eland.
Mr. Lydekker also contributed the following
notice describing the animal to The Field of
September 29, 1906:
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