158 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



their horns. In the evening I went to the machan 

 for an all-night sitting. 



February 13th. Spent a fruitless night in the 

 machan, half a gale of wind blowing until about 10 

 o'clock. In the morning I found that I had been totally 

 defeated by a leopard, which unluckily came up- 

 wind towards the goat, and ascended the high bank 

 for its final stalk, when, of course, it got my wind and 

 made off. Possibly the persistent creaking of the 

 machan in the wind may have contributed, or I may 

 not have been quiet enough. In the morning I 

 examined the country up-stream along the left bank. 

 It was full of high grass and thorn, and I saw nothing 

 but a couple of oribi, and was unable to make out a 

 buck. I saw a bushbuck drink at a meshra in the far 

 distance, and sat over that meshra until 11 o'clock 

 without seeing a sign of game, and so back to camp 

 after midday, much disappointed with the scarcity 

 of wild animals in these unfrequented parts. Ele- 

 phants were obviously numerous, but next to nothing 

 besides. In the afternoon I went for a short stalk in 

 the ravines opposite camp, and my luck changed, 

 for in the very first ravine up got a bushbuck at 

 60 yards, and as he chose to try to steal away 

 quietly, instead of disappearing in their usual fashion 

 like a startled trout, I knocked him over without 

 difficulty. The head was a good one, of 13 inches. 

 In the evening I again proceeded to the machan. 



