130 LIFE WITH THE HAMRAN ARABS. 



side for entrance or exit. No. 2 has been given over 

 to our immediate staff, and as it has a shady tree under 

 which Mohamed can cook and drink coffee at his ease, 

 he is perfectly happy. No. 3 has no special attraction 

 for ourselves beyond the important fact that it is situated 

 to the north of the others, for the wind generally blows* 

 when there is any, from this quarter, and we thus escape 

 from being made unpleasantly aware of the near society 

 of our dark-skinned friends. 



We cannot complain of not finding game, for Gum- 

 ming saw three young lions to-day, and Coke a very fine 

 old fellow ; but as they could only get snap-shots from 

 a distance, they were not successful in bagging one. I 

 came suddenly upon a rhinoceros within five yards of me, 

 but the bushes were so dense that I could not see the 

 creature, and only knew it was there by its moving. 

 For Essafi's special benefit, I let off the two barrels of 

 my eight-bore, though it was practically impossible for 

 any bullet to penetrate the thick mass of branches and 

 then this creature's hide with any effect ; and so, as I 

 expected, it went off, giving three tremendous whiffs, 

 and though we followed the track for two hours we could 

 not find it again. ' Jali * paid us another visit to-day on his 

 return from elephant-hunting, after a much shorter expe- 

 dition than he had anticipated. He reports having killed 

 six elephants, five by his own hand, and caught a young 

 rhinoceros, which they are bringing back to the Hamran 



