DILIGENCE IN PRAYER. 205 



to have their fill, and then lose no time in returning 

 again to obscurity. The gazelle are frequently seen by 

 the river-side, and probably drink two or three times a 

 day ; but the large antelope, such as the mehedehet, tetel, 

 and koodoos, so far as we have observed, invariably 

 come to the river in the afternoon, and the tetel are fre- 

 quently found there with the ariel. Maariffs are so 

 rarely seen that it is difficult to say when they leave 

 their distant haunts in the high ground, but Vivian's was 

 found soon after midday drinking, and mine was also 

 near water at the same time. We often hear the buffa- 

 loes come down the bank two or three hours after sunset, 

 and this is supposed to be about the time that all large 

 animals visit the river, the rhinoceros being the latest 

 arrival. 



However wrong their religion may be, it cannot be 

 said of our people that they neglect their prayers, for, 

 not only at sunrise and sunset, but five times a day do 

 they pray, this being the othodox number, and when ' at 

 home ' it is probably within the mark, so frequently are 

 they seen at their devotions, standing like statues, with 

 faces turned to the East, whilst muttering some passages 

 of the Koran, or kneeling down and burying their fore- 

 heads in the dust. Mohamed's and Essafi's religious 

 performances are sometimes a little inconvenient, for 

 if we have taken the trouble to rise specially early to 

 be off before sunrise, it is not pleasant to have to halt 



