Ahu-Gardani 109 



minor pipe. We rarely pass half an hour with- 

 out hearing the metallic krr krr of sand-grouse 

 high in the air, or are startled by a flock getting 

 up close under our feet. Sand-coloured lizards 

 of many kinds abound. Snakes are fortunately 

 less numerous, but sufficiently so to render cir- 

 cumspection advisable before taking a seat on 

 the ground. All, however, whether beasts, birds, 

 or reptiles, have the sad neutral hues of their 

 surroundings that tell of an age - long struggle 

 with the desert. 



Suddenly, I become aware that Ibrahim is 

 circling his horse, and now he is looking through 

 his glasses. We ride up at a walk no trotting 

 on any account. He has seen some bobbing sterns 

 but they are now vanished. We proceed, and 

 some way farther on they come into view again. 

 In half an hour more, though still on the move, 

 they are near enough to warrant a moment's halt 

 to take a look through the glasses. It is a 

 buck and three does. 



Now the art of ahu-gardani is to shape your 

 course to one side, so as to avoid scaring your 

 quarry ; so that by degrees, instead of flying as 

 if pursued by ten thousand devils as they did at 

 first, they lose their panic sufficiently to allow 

 you to ride on one flank within four or five hun- 

 dred yards. It is often an hour's ride to effect 



