THE BLUE NILE AND ROSEIRES 247 



Blue Nile may be said to begin hereabouts; there 

 being a hippopotamus in the offing. 



May 3lst. Spent a tiring morning paring the hoofs 

 of my donkey, which has been stumbling a lot lately. 

 Even with unshod animals this operation is a periodi- 

 cal necessity, and has not been performed since I 

 bought the animal in Kassala in November. After 

 breakfast I went to the meshra, but all chance of 

 animals coming to drink was spoiled by a sharp 

 shower of rain. I made a circuit and saw two 

 wart-hog, but the tushes of the boar did not tempt 

 me to shoot. On the way to the meshra I had seen 

 yesterday's waterbuck, which had been joined by 

 two koodoo does and a fawn, and on the way back I 

 saw some ten oribi and a duiker, but got no shot all 

 day. 



June 1st. Went for an early morning round away 

 from the river. Soon got on to cotton-soil, and saw 

 no game at all but two or three oribi. Finally shot 

 a brace of guinea-fowl. Met Mr. B., of the Customs 

 Department, who had breakfast with me and gave me 

 some information about the shooting round Koseires. 

 Went to the meshra in afternoon, but saw no game 

 at all from midday to 4 p.m. Then the hippo turned 

 up, and offered a fair chance, but I thought that two 

 hippos in a season were a fair enough bag. Finally 

 a waterbuck drank, which was the only animal to visit 



