THE SETTIT RIVER 129 



along the left bank, I blundered into a waterbuck doe 

 and fawn drinking. I made M. and A. bring a sick 

 and abandoned sheep to the machan, much to their 

 disgust. In the evening I sat over a calling goat 

 without success. 



January 12th. Spent a fruitless night in the machan 

 over sheep, with the result that I slept well and saw 

 or heard nothing. Yet elephants must have been 

 within 200 yards of me across the stream, and at 

 least one lion half a mile up the river. In the morning 

 I walked up again to the bushbuck-meshra, seeing 

 nothing but a wart-hog on the road and arriving at 

 8 o'clock. At 8.30 out came a nice bushbuck, but 

 I bungled the affair badly, finishing off with a 

 miss right and left within 40 yards. I then went 

 a bit further up-stream, crossing opposite a small 

 village, and coming down the right bank, stopping at 

 the ariel-meshra. About 11 a.m., when I was just 

 off home, down came a herd, and this time I stalked 

 successfully to within 20 yards, knocking over a nice 

 buck of 14| inches. M. and A. did not turn up for 

 fully ten minutes after it was dead, and then pro- 

 ceeded to halal it, while, to their great amusement, 

 I went through a pantomime of the alert shikari 

 disturbed from his slumbers. In the afternoon I 

 brought my news up to date, i.e. about the middle of 

 December. Sat in lion-machan in evening without 

 success. Tied a dead sheep out as bait for a panther. 



