I had the three buffalo heads buried in a large ant-heap against our return, as we were unable to carry them about with us, and to have hung them in the trees would have exposed them to theft from wandering Wandorobbo or stragglers from the Somali caravan. The ants were very large, being quite an inch in length, and of a bright scarlet colour; they died on exposure to the air and light. They bit very fiercely, drawing blood whenever they fastened their immensely powerful jaws. The men who buried the horns suffered considerably about the legs, but I was consoled by the thought that the horns would be safe from the hyænas while in charge of such powerful little warriors. FOOTNOTES: [7] “Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa,” by Arthur H. Neumann (1898), p. 126. CHAPTER IX. _JOURNEY DOWN THE WASO NYIRO._ Arrival at the Waso Nyiro—The “Green Camp”—The “cinder-heap”—The camp on fire—Scarcity of game—Hunting a rhino on mule-back. Next morning we continued to follow the course of the little stream which issued, greatly diminished in size, from the opposite side of the swamp. The country grew more barren as we advanced. Great gravelly areas alternated with brown earth, and now and again an outcrop of quartz or lava occurred. The universal thorn tree was the only member of the vegetable world that seemed to be able to draw any sustenance from the arid soil, with the exception of a few cacti and small aloes. Rhinoceros there were in plenty, and several giraffe loomed on the horizon. We were also greatly excited to observe elephant tracks, two or three days old, trending north-eastward towards the Waso Nyiro. In the distance we could see frowning cliffs of pink gneiss, and due north, some peculiarly shaped hills, one in particular being an almost exact replica of the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Ghizeh. Another to the left of it consisted of a pyramidal base, surmounted by a columnar peak that by some agency or other had been split vertically into two unequal portions, which remained sticking boldly upwards like a couple of gigantic teeth. Standing out prominently to the north-north-west was the massive outline of Mount Lololokwe, 3000 feet above the level of the surrounding plain, while behind it, one point more to the westward, Mount Gwarguess reared its stately head 2000 feet higher. To our great annoyance and dismay, the little stream we were following, which had been dwindling in size for some miles, now disappeared completely into a subterranean passage. It was eleven o’clock in the forenoon, so we crept into the scanty shade afforded by some thorn trees, and rested in preparation for a long march to the Waso Nyiro in the afternoon. The heat was intense, and the atmosphere most remarkably dry and clear. Small objects at long distances stood out with remarkable distinctness. The hills, at the foot of which flowed the Waso Nyiro, seemed not more than an hour’s march distant.