A FEAST FOR A 'GOURMET: 237 



At last the sentence of death by shooting has been 

 carried out upon the sick horse in a favourite haunt of 

 lions, where it was led by Essafi after sunset, but the 

 result was most disappointing ; for, after the execution, 

 Vivian and myself remained in ambush near it far into 

 the night without receiving a visitor of any kind. An- 

 other great proof that vultures, &c., are guided by sight, 

 not scent, is that they only soar about during the day, 

 and if towards sunset we kill an animal there is no need 

 to cover it over, for it then becomes an unnecessary 

 precaution against their greedy proclivities, and quite 

 useless to save it from being scented out by its enemies 

 of the night, the lion and hyaena. Our Arab neighbours 

 caught a giraffe yesterday, and made us a present of 

 some of the flesh, and as Albert caught a fine fish, a 

 'baggar' (Baker), our dinner to-day has been more 

 varied than usual, consisting of giraffe soup (which by 

 Mohamed's careful cooking was, like his usual soups, 

 reduced almost to an essence, and had consequently a 

 rather too strong flavour of the menagerie for the palates 

 of such connoisseurs as we have become in the delicacies 

 of the forest), boiled ' baggar/ a very fine fish and the 

 best of the inhabitants of the Settite, a buffalo mince, a 

 giraffe steak, ariel cutlets cooked in hippo-fat, and 

 a sweet omelette made with an ostrich-egg and apricot 

 jam ; and, to have everything in keeping, our lantern is 

 supplied with the prepared fat of the lion. The Arabs 



