236 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



I think, cows, persistently stood sentry. Nevertheless, 

 I decided to try a close approach, under cover of a 

 fallen mimosa, which would have brought me within 

 100 yards of the herd ; and was successful in getting 

 within 25 yards of the tree, by first proceeding on my 

 knees, then on hands and knees, and finally crawling 

 like a snake. I might indeed have fired a long shot, 

 but could not make out a bull, when just as we 

 were near a fallen tree, the sentries detected us, and 

 the whole herd made off at once, leaving us to trudge 

 disconsolately back to camp some 5 miles which we 

 did not reach till after midday. Of smaller game we 

 had only seen two or three oribi, and a herd of ariel 

 in the distance all as wild as hawks. In the evening 

 I visited the pool above camp, where buffaloes usually 

 drink at night, but there were no fresh tracks, and I 

 saw no game at all. 



May 12th. In the morning I made the complete 

 circuit of the bend of the Binder below camp, as far 

 as the pool where I shot the hippo. There were plenty 

 of tracks of buffalo, but none fresher than the night 

 before last. There were tracks of another hippo 

 about the pool, which is nearly a mile long, and also 

 of a baby hippo. I saw no game at all but half a 

 dozen oribi, also a colony of fully fifty tiny greyish 

 green monkeys. In the evening I went to the pool 

 above camp where buffalo frequently drink at night, 

 but saw no game, though a large herd had drunk 

 there after my departure yesterday. 



