V A FLOCK OF OSTRICHES 43 



across this plain, which seemed full of game, and so get 

 a couple of days' shooting, but H. thought it best to push 

 right across, if possible — though, as a measure of pre- 

 caution, he took enough water for one nio^ht. The caravan 

 accordingly started at 3 a.m. Three hours later I struck 

 off to look for game, and soon saw a large herd of oryx, 

 but at too great a distance to shoot. Suddenly a move- 

 ment in a patch of thin bush attracted our attention, and 

 we made out a little flock of ostriches. We spent a long 

 time trying to get a shot, but 500 yards was our shortest 

 range, and as we had a long march in front of us, 

 were reluctantly compelled to leave them. Soon after, 

 we came up to a small lot of oryx, and shot one as it 

 stood looking at us. The animal proved to be a cow, 

 with the longest horns I have ever bagged (34^ inches), 

 and weighed when clean 260 lbs. Later on I got 

 another, which we were sure was a bull from the thick- 

 ness of its horns, but it likewise proved to be a cow. 

 As the pony had as much as it could do to carry the two 

 heads and skins and a little meat, I tramped on foot 

 from the time I left the caravan till 4 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, when we found our camp at Bilen, situated 

 at the foot of the steep descent from the plateau 

 to the valley of the Hawash. During- the day 

 B. had bagged a zebra and W. an aul. 



Bilen, where we spent four days, is the name given to 

 a celebrated hot spring, which bubbles up from the mud 

 at a temperature of no degrees, and forms a pool some 

 25 yards across and 4 feet deep in the centre, with a soft 

 muddy bottom. In this pool the water is cool enough for 

 the natives to bathe, and all day long parties of them came 



