INTRODUCTORY 5 



cream of the whole more delicious than all the twenty 

 forbye, not only in physical comfort but in opportunity 

 for observation of wild-life, great or small. Even from 

 the regular mail-steamers of the Sudan Government on 

 White Nile many a striking- spectacle may almost daily 

 be witnessed. Travellers of the globe-trotter type doubt 

 this. Why? Because they never turn out before "break- 

 fast at nine "... and, after that, play whisky-poker. 



BIG-GAME. The Sudan must rank as one of the 

 more important of Afric's varied hunting-fields. Its 

 game-list is quite long and intrinsically interesting. 

 Probably no other area to-day holds more elephants, 

 nor heavier ivory ; but more important the Sudan can 

 claim a virtual monopoly in no less than eight distinct 

 species of game-animals, including two of the biggest 

 beasts yet extant here on earth. These two are the 

 Giant Eland and the White Rhinoceros, both still fairly 

 numerous though restricted within dangerously narrow 

 limits in the Bahr-el-Ghazal and Lado Enclave. 1 Besides 

 these two in the extreme south, six other species are 

 practically endemic to Sudan. These six include (on the 

 alluvial plains) the Tiang and White-eared Cob ; on the 

 marshes, the rare Saddle-backed Lechwi (Onotragus 

 megaceros, Heller) ; while on the Saharan Deserts of 

 Northern Sudan roam three strangely specialised desert- 

 forms, to wit the sabre-horned Oryx leucoryx, the 

 Addra gazelle, and the Addax, most reclusive of all. 



In claiming these eight animals exclusively for Sudan, 

 I am of course aware that wide-ranging nomads of their 

 type disregard purely political boundaries such as often 

 serve in Africa, merely, for example, degrees of latitude 

 or longitude, the Equator, and similar intangible con- 

 ventions. Desert creatures wander afar beyond such 

 precise geographical limitations ; but the point is that 

 the Sudan is the place, to get these prizes. 



1 The white rhinoceros has since been placed on the Protected List 

 that is, none may now be shot. One giant eland is allowed. 



