68 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



not to mention the off-chance of snakes and scor- 

 pions, he is bound to be half stifled, and will be lucky 

 if he ever manages to sleep at all. From a machan 

 he can generally arrange to get an excellent view of 

 the surroundings, whereas in a pit his range of vision 

 will necessarily be limited to the bait. In a machan 

 he can hear the noises of wild creatures which con- 

 stitute so much of the charm of this branch of sport, 

 whereas from a pit it is likely that he may be even 

 unable to hear when his bait has been killed. More- 

 over, to an experienced ear these same noises often 

 convey a great deal of meaning. In India the 

 prowling tiger or leopard is challenged by practically 

 every wild creature that sees him, and the cry is 

 sometimes totally different from those ordinarily 

 uttered. This is not so much true of Africa, where, 

 save for the roar of the lion, the forest by night is 

 curiously silent. The hoarse cough of the baboon, 

 the whistle of the reedbuck or oribi, or the sudden 

 bark of the bushbuck, may, however, well mean that 

 they have sighted the common enemy, and thus warn 

 the sportsman to be in readiness. Several sportsmen 

 in the Sudan have had the narrowest of escapes from 

 being dragged bodily through the apertures in their 

 pits by a wounded lion or its companion, and have 

 only saved their lives by firing repeated revolver 

 shots through the roof. I myself had a wounded 

 leopard spend the entire night till dawn within five 



