52 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



custom, which demands considerable expenditure on 

 beaters when practising this particular mode of sport. 

 Indeed, I suspect that one would have to pay for 

 beaters, whether they were made use of or not. 



The African wild sheep is said to exist over most 

 of the ibex-ground, but it is a very rare animal 

 indeed, and one I never came across. 



The koodoo is found in fair numbers along the 

 entire course of the Settit, and to a less extent upon 

 the Atbara above Mugatta. It does not exist on the 

 Rahad, the Galegu, or the Binder below the Galegu 

 junction, but I was told that it is to be found 

 on the Binder in the stretch above the Galegu. 

 It is common on the Blue Nile from Suleil upwards. 

 A large bull of this species is generally regarded as 

 the greatest prize for the sportsman in the Eastern 

 Sudan ; but large bulls are exceedingly rare, and I 

 passed nearly four months in koodoo-country without 

 seeing more than two big heads, and got shots at 

 neither. Females largely outnumber the males, and 

 the old bulls are said to be adepts at concealment. 

 The usual drinking hours on the Settit were dawn 

 and dusk, but I believe that there is very little 

 regularity in the habits of these antelopes, and on the 

 Blue Nile they were said to prefer to drink in the 

 afternoon. I think that they do not usually retreat 

 more than three or four miles from water, and believe 

 that I might have been more successful on the 



