A FINE SPECIMEN OF THE HAMRAN ARAB. 263 



rice, milk, and honey for dinner. I took out to-day as 

 guide and gun-bearer, in the temporary absence of 

 Essafi, a camel-man, and very proud he was to be so 

 raised in the social scale above his fellows, though a man 

 more unsuited to this work could not be imagined. He 

 is our finest specimen of the Hamran Arab, standing 

 about six feet three inches, and splendidly made in pro- 

 portion down to the knees, but in calf and form of leg 

 below knee he shows the usual defect of his people. 

 Notwithstanding this, his carriage is very perfect, and 

 his head is protected with as fine a crop of hair as the 

 most fastidious Hamran could desire. Walking as erect 

 as a statue in front of me, his idea seemed to be that 

 the faster he got over the ground the more game he 

 could show me, but he signally failed to see anything, 

 and three times I had to pull him up, though too late, 

 to let me get a standing shot. At last I had a distant 

 shot at a mehedehet and wounded it, and away went my 

 giant guide, ' El Minna,' after it as fast as he could run, 

 and he so successfully drove it far out of sight that it 

 was quite hopeless for me to follow one or other, and I 

 therefore returned home. Albert says ' El Minna ' is 

 very proud of his performance as a hunter to-day, and is 

 anxious for a re-engagement. One day Albert told him 

 that if he would go to London with us, and exhibit him- 

 ' self in his war costume, with the addition of a few 

 ostrich feathers in his hair, that he would make an im- 



