156 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



it down at twenty, with a hartebeest apparently 

 doing sentry. I stopped the caravan, but whether 

 it was the sight of the caravan, or the unfavourable 

 wind, or the hosts of guinea-fowl that dispersed 

 in every direction whilst I was conducting the stalk, 

 the entire herd bolted from the meshra before I 

 could get on terms, and, into the bargain, caught 

 sight of me from the rear as I was walking along the 

 high bank, and I saw no more of them, though I 

 waited until 1 p.m. on the chance of their return- 

 ing. There was the track of a lion all the way 

 from this meshra to our new camp, and in the 

 evening I sat up in a fig-tree for him without 

 success. 



February Ilth. In the morning I constructed a 

 machan for the lion in a likely ravine, up which I 

 had seen his tracks. I then went on to the big meshra, 

 and sat there from 11 to 12, but saw nothing but 

 three oribi, including a buck, which saw me and made 

 ofl, though a doe waited long enough to give me an 

 easy chance. In the afternoon I went out at 3 o'clock 

 and saw a Heuglin buck come down to drink just 

 outside the camp. The horns were nothing out of the 

 way, but I wanted meat, and made a successful stalk, 

 securing him at 50 yards by the first shot. He was 

 much heavier than the Atbara bucks 70 Ib. to wit, 

 against 63 Ib., being the largest to date. The horns 

 were only 10| inches, however, though the height 



