218 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



It was difficult country to hunt in, for despite the 

 flatness great clumps of papyrus and rushes concealed 

 the view, and we had to climb on to ant-hills eight 

 feet in height to get a chance of spying. It needed 

 some care, too, to avoid getting seriously bogged, and 

 the mosquitos were beyond all endurance, especially 

 at dusk, when they rose in such clouds as literally to 

 cover us with a black veil. They are a large and 

 hungry species, with all the tenacity of a bull -dog, 

 and are far more formidable than their fine needle- 

 shaped brethren of Hajer-el-Hamis. 



The first night Mr Talbot got a water-buck and 

 doe, but we failed to find the doe's body in the 

 marsh : Aji, the gun-boy, prophesied that next day 

 there would be a large gathering of her kind come 

 to mourn her. We scoffed at the idea, but never- 

 theless hunted in the same direction the next after- 

 noon. As we approached the spot a herd of kob 

 sprang away startled, and as they ran others too 

 took warning. There was, in truth, a large number 

 of game collected round the body. 



Meantime our Buduma friends had not been idle. 

 In the evening they laid their fishing-nets, and in 

 the morning raised them, to find some ten or eleven 

 fish, averaging 25 to 30 lb. in weight apiece, — a catch 

 with which they were discontented, attributing its 

 poorness to the stormy weather. 



There were five different kinds. -^ We collected 

 them together, and photographed a specimen of each. 

 The one to the left was remarkable for its immense 

 teeth, in the middle was a narrow - headed, red- 



1 Some Chad fish are of Nilotic origin, while others come from the 

 western rivers. 



