148 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



of the opinion that the lion was a cunning animal 

 that would not return, but M., my shikari, who 

 came round in the morning, was positive that his 

 behaviour was merely due to his having overeaten 

 himself the previous night ; so we concealed the 

 dead koodoo and left themachan in situ, with the 

 mental reservation that I would break camp next 

 day if this next sitting were unsuccessful. As a mail 

 had arrived from England, the day was spent writing 

 letters, and sending them in to Sofi by Khojali on a 

 donkey, with directions to hire a man at Sofi for 

 two dollars to carry them 40 miles further to Gedarif . 



January 3Ist. Spent a fruitless night over the dead 

 koodoo. A bushbuck barked at sunset, but nothing 

 stirred all night. In the early morning I bagged a 

 couple of guinea-fowl with two shots, and then broke 

 camp, proceeding 5 miles up-stream to Negata. 

 Throughout the march up the left bank I was practi- 

 cally never out of sight of tracks of lion, buffalo, and 

 leopard, though I actually saw no game but an oribi, 

 which got up in thick bush. In the evening I tied 

 up a goat, sitting in an old rig-tree, but without 

 success. 



February 1st. Made a long round, from 5 a.m. 

 to 10 a.m., down the left bank and up the right, to 

 look for yesterday's buffalo, but could find no trace 

 of him. Started by jumping a waterbuck with fair 



