CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 197 



know better the equality of human nature 

 under all skies who have shared the dangers 

 and hardships of hunting wild beasts in the 

 company of men of such mettle as the Arab, 

 the Sikh, or the Indian Mussulman. Among 

 the hardest and most skilful mounted hunters 

 in the Eastern Sudan are some of the loyal 

 Abu Ref tribe, as well as the fanatical Kinana 

 of Sheikh Fadl el Moulaand the Beni Hussein 

 clan. In addition to these, there are also, in 

 the big game grounds of the south-west, the 

 Rizeigat of Ahmed Wad Egeil, the Humr, 

 the Habbaniya, and some Bagara clans. 



The cutting power of the straight, two-edged, 

 cross-hilted sword of these Arab hunters is 

 amazing. In the hands of a powerful and 

 skilled swordsman, such a weapon is capable 

 of penetrating the hide and severing the muscle 

 of the largest elephant, and Ahmet Wad Idris, 

 a veteran hunter of the Beni Hussein, who 

 formerly lived at Singa and who, I believe, 

 accompanied Count Joseph Potocki on his 

 expedition in the Eastern Sudan, was actually 

 known to have cut off the hind leg of a giraffe 

 above the hock at a single blow, a feat that 

 might almost be deemed impossible. There 

 was another mighty hunter of the kind, one 

 Ramadan, son of Sheikh Abu Shetal of 

 Roseires, who hunted the wild buffalo with 

 hound and spear, harpooned the hippopotamus, 



