Here by the lake we have the characteristic mark of the wilderness: dwarf gazelles and zebras, zebras and dwarf gazelles in greater and greater multitudes! Wherever the eye glances it falls upon these two species, and the numerous waterbuck and Grant’s gazelles, and the hundreds of hartebeests, are in a sense mere points of relief for the sight amidst these vast crowds. Bathed in the shimmering light this multitude of animals mingles together. Wherever I make my appearance there is for awhile movement in the mass of wild creatures, which otherwise are grazing quietly. I have long since left the camp a considerable distance behind me. I am following One of the rhinoceros--or hippopotamus--tracks leading to the lake margin, lost, so to speak, in this multitudinous animal life, and once more I have the feeling of finding myself, as it were, in the midst of a vast flock of sheep, and the impression that all the creatures about me are not “wild beasts,” but rather tame domestic animals that have been driven out here to graze on the pastures under the supervision of a herdsman. [Illustration: BEARERS ON THE MARCH. THE FIGURE ON THE RIGHT IS AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE WAY IN WHICH THEY SOMETIMES RELIEVE THE STRAIN ON THEIR SHOULDERS BY CARRYING THEIR LOAD AT ARMS’ LENGTH OVER THEIR HEAD. A HUNDRED PACES A MINUTE IS AN AVERAGE RATE FOR A HEAVILY LADEN BEARER.] [Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ TRANSPORT BEARERS IN DIFFICULTIES.] [Illustration: THE AUTHOR BEING CARRIED ACROSS A SWAMP.] The mass of animals surges and undulates to and fro. Some old bulls of the heavily horned hartebeest species seem to have undertaken the duty of sentinels. They stand apart fixed and motionless, watching attentively the strange appearance of the approaching man, and then make away in a long striding gallop, with heads bent well down, to increase the distance between themselves and the suspicious object, ready all the while to give the alarm signal for a general stampede by loud snorting. In this district we do not find the flat-horned hartebeest of the Kilimanjaro (_Bubalis cokei_, Gthr.), but the species named after its discoverer, Jackson (_Bubalis jacksoni_). Long and stately horns distinguish this variety of a remarkably formed species of antelope, which is widely distributed throughout Darkest Africa. To my great delight I succeeded in bringing down a specimen of a much more interesting species, Neumann’s hartebeest[4] (_Bubalis neumanni_, Rothsch.), then only known by one or two examples. [Illustration: HOW MULES AND ASSES ARE GOT ACROSS A RIVER.] [Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ TWO OF MY WANDOROBO GUIDES.] [Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ A HALT OF MY CARAVAN ON THE VELT. ON THE LEFT CAPTAIN MERKER, THE EXPLORER OF THE MASAI COUNTRY AND THE GREAT AUTHORITY ON THE RACE; NEAR HIM, WEARING A TROPICAL HELMET, STAFF-SURGEON KÜNSTER, WHO LATER SERVED IN THE SOUTH-WEST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.]