246 SPOET IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



Unfortunately there was said to be no water in Khor 

 Mehera ; and under the circumstances it appeared 

 to be useless to follow the advice of the syce any 

 longer, so we filled up our water-tanks and girbas, 

 and started back for Suleil, a distance of 14 miles, of 

 which we did half in the morning and the rest in 

 the evening. Mr. L. and Mr. H., of the Forest 

 Department, who had just arrived, dined with me. 

 May 30th. Got off at 6 a.m. and marched 11 miles 

 to Bados, arriving at 10 a.m. and putting up in the 

 Government tukuls. Immediately after breakfast I 

 went off to the Meshra el Hageh, which is the great 

 feature of the neighbourhood, so called from a small 

 pile of rocks in the middle of the river. There were 

 plenty of tracks of koodoo, but we saw none of the 

 animals. I made about the worst miss of my life, right 

 and left, at 25 and 15 yards, at a bushbuck, which 

 finally ran past me so close that I might have thrown 

 my rifle at it. The reason was mainly that I allowed 

 H. to lead the stalk, and he brought me 200 yards at 

 a fast walk, so that I had to shoot quickly when out 

 of breath. In addition to this, want of any practice 

 for nearly a month has undoubtedly told on my 

 shooting, for later on in the day I clean missed an 

 oribi at 60 yards. Later I saw four more bushbuck, 

 including a smallish male, but H. again led and 

 bungled the stalk. Also a herd of six or eight young 

 male waterbuck. In fact, the game-country of the 



