216 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



Shakit until 8 a.m. Afterwards they said that the 

 meat of the reedbuck was unwholesome ! No doubt 

 they had been eating it half the night. I shot a 

 couple of guinea-fowl on the road, which at a place 

 called Homar ul Gizm left the Gallabat-Senga 

 40-feet track, which here quits the Rahad and runs 

 within a degree north of due east. The going then 

 became bad in the extreme, black cotton-soil of the 

 worst type, and we marched until well after midday, 

 possibly 10 miles in all, but a trying march. Our 

 halting-place was called Bandarey, a mere pool under 

 a steep bank, but with plenty of lion-tracks in the 

 vicinity. In the afternoon I took to my rod, but 

 without much success, catching a couple of fish of 

 some ounces, and getting broken by a big one. In 

 the evening I tied up a bed in a fig-tree overhanging 

 the pool, to serve as an impromptu machan. 



April 21st. The night passed without incident, 

 though I never heard a goat make more noise. In the 

 morning R. took me to a maya, which turned out to be 

 a long 4 miles off, and bone-dry when we got there. 

 However, vultures were collecting at one end, and we 

 soon found the remains of an ariel that at least one 

 lion had obviously been eating all night. These we 

 covered carefully with branches after I had sat over 

 them for an hour, and returned to camp. On the way 

 I took a shot at an ariel at 120 yards, and thought I 

 had scored a miss, as he ran a short distance and stood 



