STALKING GIRAFFES. 89 and that they made these fires to telegraph, as it were, that there were strangers in their country.

We saw the footprints of great numbers of giraffes that had been there during the last rainy season, when the place had been little better than a swamp ; and their marks in the mud had dried hard. We felt there was no chance of seeing any of the animals when we passed through, as there was simply nothing for them to eat. In our experience of African game, with the exception of elephants, giraffes are the most wideranging of all ; and we frequently saw their footprints at very great distances from water. They are very difficult to shoot, their long necks giving them a great advantage over the hunter, as they can see him long before he is aware of their being in the vicinity, and thus frequently make off without being seen at all. They are, moreover, very keen-scented. Their food chiefly consists of the leaves of the trees, which are, as a rule, so low that their long necks enable them to see over them.

One day my brothers had gone out to see what they could obtain in the way of game, and had fallen in with the fresh marks of a giraffe. They, therefore, ascended a hill to observe if any were in sight, and soon made out three or four, feeding in the plain below them. Quickly taking their bearings, they descended, but had to go a very long way round, to avoid approaching them down wind. After a very long stalk, in which they became much heated, they felt sure they could not be far off, and were advancing very cautiously, moving the twigs of the trees aside with their hands before pushing their way through them, so as to make as little noise as possible, when suddenly they heard the report of a shot, and at the same moment the sound of some heavy animals crashing through the jungle, which was so thick that they could not be seen, though barely a hundred yards away. One of the Arabs,