The Butler weekly times., 1909-04-08

game strap, an oblong pitfall hidden
with sticks and cut grass roam
countless wild animals at the pres
ent day, and l earnestly pray may
continue to roam there, completely
protected from the British sports
man and his oittimes insensate raw
ages. The nomsd natives who make
these game pits secure too small a
proportion Of the antelopes to be
taken into much account. Here
may be seen large herds OF girsffes as
one might see cattle peacefully stand
Ing about in an English park. These
giraffes are the finest development
We yet know OF the northern form.
OF that species OF giraffe which ex.
tends all over northern Central
Africa from east to west, with the
exception OF Somaliland, where a pc.
culiar colored species is developed.
In color the adult males and females
become so dark on the upper part Of
the body that, seen from q distance,
they seem 80 be black or purple with
white bellies, and are therefore most
striking objects, especially when they
stand, as they often do, on the tops
of low ant hills, from which they sur.
vey with their keen sight all the sur.
rounding country. When girsffe Is
thus poised on a mound like senti.
mel he Is absolutely rigid, and moves
his head so little that the appear
ance OF immobility, coupled with the
extraordinary shape-the short body
and the enormously long, tapering
neck-give the traveller the fixed i'm
preston that he Is looking at an un-
branched tree trunk which has been
blasted by lightning or q forest fire.
But giraffes are not the only large
game on these glorious downs. Ele.
plants may be seen In great herds
close by, but they affect rather more
the scattered forest than the open
plains. Where you see the giraffes
you see also numerous rhinos in cou-
pies, male and female, or a female
alone with her snub nosed calf. The
rhino looks like q purple black or q
whitish gray as he moves through
the long grass, according as the light
strikes him.
II Is q glorious sight, say an hour
after the sun has risen and the
shadows are beginning to shorten,
to traverse this grass country and
see this geological garden turned
loose. Herds OF zebras and Jack.
sons hartebeest mingle together and
In face OF the sunlight become q
changing procession of silver and
gold, the sleek coat of the bras In
the level sunlight mingling their black
stripes and snowy intervals into q
Uniform silver gray, while the coats
OF the hartebeest are simply red
gold. Dotted about on she outskirts
OF this throDg are j.s-black cock
ostrickes with white wings, white
bobtail, and long pink necks. Red
and silver iackals siak aud snsl;
grotesque wart. hogs VI "A dirty gray,
with whitish bristles and erect tails
terminating In dropping tassel,
scurry before the traveller I'LL thcl
can bolt into some burrow If the
ant bear.
Males of the noble waterbuck,
strangely like the English red deer,
appear at distance, browsing with
their hornless, doe-like females, or
gazing at the approaching traveller
with head erect and the named neck
and splendid carriage OF Lsndseer's
stays. Gray.yellow reedbuck bend
their lissom bodies into such a
bounding gallop that the spine seems
to become cancave as the animals
rear is flung high into the air. The
dainty Damiliscus, or sable an ntelope,
with coat OF red, msuve, black and
yellow satin bordered with cream
color, stands at gaze, his coat like
watered silk as the sunlight follows
the wavy growth Of the glistening
hair. Once black buffalo would have
borne a part In this assemblsge, but
now, alasl they have all been destroy
ed BY the rinderpest. The eland still
fingers In this region, but seems to
prefer the scattered woodland to the
open plains. Lions and leopards
may both be seen frequently In broad
DAYLIGHT. hanging about these herda