92 



SAVAGE SUDAN 



(iv) FINAL 



As prophets we usually fail, and this (fourth) yarn 

 falsifies that last remark. A week later, I find in diary : 

 " As we needed meat, and also a carcase whereat to collect 

 specimens of vultures, I stalked some tiang, and was in 

 the usual quandary about selecting a choice specimen, 

 when a heavily-horned head suddenly surmounted the 



low bush on our extreme left. 



:^f* Aiming one foot beneath the 



chin, I heard the bullet tell, 



^^^^^t^ij^jlj^j^. an d such a shot signifies 



'neck or nothing.' After the 

 usual preliminary stampede, 

 the herd stood awaiting their 

 outpost, and I tried, with 

 binoculars and pencil, to catch 

 some of their characteristic 

 attitudes. Presently some 

 began 'playing,' indulging in 

 sham skirmishes, and then 

 I realised that a truly grand 

 bull stood sleepily on my right front. He carried a 

 massive head a trophy never to be missed. Creeping 

 forward to 250 yards unseen, I secured him, my best 

 tiang, though only after a long cripple-chase. His jet- 

 black face was brindled with white hair, forming almost 

 an incipient ' blaze,' and his massive horns measured 

 23 inches by 9 in basal circumference." 

 That really did "close the account." 

 My tiang trophies thus displayed a gradually ascending 

 scale, thus : 



Length. Basal Circumference. 



A, B, C . . i8| inches. 7^ to 7| inches. 



D . -I9l > 7 j, 



E. . 22 + 2lf ,, 8 + 8 ,, 



F . . 23 + 22^ 9 + 9 



FEMALE . 17 5i 



" ROOM FOR THREE." 

 Giraffes at Jebel Zeraf, February 1st, 1914. 



