,
containing my gun, was fastened in the centre of the angarep, and two
towlines were attached to the front part of the raft, by which swimmers
were to draw it across the river. Two men were to hang on behind,
and, if possible, keep it straight in the rapid current. After some
difficulty we arrived at the opposite bank, and scrambled through thick
bushes, upon our hands and knees, to the summit.

For about two miles' breadth on this side of the river the valley was
rough broken ground, full of gullies and ravines sixty or seventy feet
deep, beds of torrents, bare sandstone rocks, bushy crags, fine grassy
knolls, and long strips of mimosa covert, forming a most perfect
locality for shooting.

I had observed by the telescope that the giraffes were standing as usual
upon an elevated position, from whence they could keep a good lookout.
I knew it would be useless to ascend the slope directly, as their long
necks give these animals an advantage similar to that of the man at the
masthead; therefore, although we had the wind in our favor, we should
have been observed. I accordingly determined to make a great circuit
of about five miles, and thus to approach them from above, with the
advantage of the broken ground for stalking. It was the perfection of
uneven country. By clambering up broken cliffs, wading shoulder-deep
through muddy gullies, sliding down the steep ravines, and winding
through narrow bottoms of high grass and mimosas for about two hours, we
at length arrived at the point of the high table-land upon the verge
of which I had first noticed the giraffes with the telescope. Almost
immediately I distinguished the tall neck of one of these splendid
animals about half a mile distant upon my left, a little below the
table-land; it was feeding on the bushes, and I quickly discovered
several others near the leader of the herd. I was not far enough
advanced in the circuit that I had intended to bring me exactly above
them, therefore I turned sharp to my right, intending to make a short
half circle, and to arrive on the leeward side of the herd, as I was now
to windward. This I fortunately completed, but I had marked a thick bush
as my point of cover, and upon arrival I found that the herd had fed
down wind, and that I was within two hundred yards of the great bull
sentinel that, having moved from his former position, was now standing
directly before me.

I lay down quietly behind the bush with my two followers, and anxi