44 



SAVAGE SUDAN 



Nile navigation is aided by no marks or buoys ; none 

 are needed. Where these mobs of water-fowl assemble 

 clearly indicates the position of shoals and shallows. 



At first I spent delightful days cruising among these 

 hosts, content to study the fowl, endeavouring to establish 

 a census of their species, without troubling to think of 

 the gun at all. Then the spirit of the wildfowler awoke. 



EGYPTIAN GEESE First Shot on White Nile. 



I remember my first shot on White Nile. Five geese 

 swept indiscreetly across our bows and two fell. Ere the 

 second had reached the water, I heard a splash behind. 

 One of my Arab crew clothes and all (or what there 

 pass for clothes) had dived from the deck. He swam 

 with curious overhand action and retrieved both geese. 

 Some smart flight-shooting is obtainable both at dusk 

 and dawn by taking post either on islands or at salient 

 points alongshore where the fowl have been observed to 

 pass. Away from the actual river itself, no "flighting" 



