THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 227 



out in the country with his second in command, Col. Abd-el- 

 Kader, he saw several ostriches feeding on the open plain ; they 

 were at a considerable distance, and the country was so open that 

 it was impossible to stalk them. "While gazing and longing, 

 another ostrich was seen away off to the left at the edge of a 

 covert. Immediately Baker dismounted and started through the 

 woods, but when he approached within what he supposed was 

 shooting distance of where the bird had been, he saw it runnim 



O O 



across the country, having taken fright without his knowledge. 

 He walked on and soon saw another running over the plain, and 

 at this he fired with success, the heavy bird falling so hard from 

 its momentum that its feathers flew out in large quantities. A 

 mounted orderly was dispatched to bring men and donkeys. 

 When the bird was cut up the two thighs and legs were a fail- 

 load for two donkeys. Its stomach or craw was filled with 

 lizards, scorpions, beetles, leaves of trees and quartz-pebbles. 

 It must have recently traveled a great distance, because there 

 were no pebbles within two hundred miles of tiue place. 



FATE OF AN OLD BLIND MA^. 



THE natives of the Shillook country were, scrupulously honest. 

 They became quite familiar with Baker's ^ien, and carried on a 

 considerable trade with them. If there were any differences 

 between them and the soldiers, Baker always found that the fault 

 lay with his men. These people lived along the opposite banks 

 of the Nile, which was of considerable breadth at Tewfikeeyah ; 

 they crossed the streams in canoes, or on rafts, made of the 

 extremely light but strong ambatch wood, and which being lighter 

 than cork, could be carried easily on the head. The country was 

 usually rich, and being well supplied with rains, is susceptible of 

 a profitable cultivation, e?pecially adapted for cotton. 



Baker relates the following incident : "There was an old blind 

 sheik who frequently visited us from the other side, and this poor 

 fellow came to an untimely end when returning one day with his 

 son from marketing at Tewfikeeyah. I was walking on the quay, 

 when I heard a great commotion, and saw a splashing in the 

 river, the surface of which was covered with the ambatch frag- 



