A FLOCK OF OSTRICHES 



across this plain, which seemed full of game, and so get 

 a couple of days' shooting, but H. thought it best to push 

 right across, if possible — though, as a measure of pre- 

 caution, he took enough water for one night. The caravan 

 accordingly started at 3 a.m. Three hours later I struck 

 off to look for game, and soon saw a large herd of ory.x, 

 but at too great a distance to shoot. Suddenly a move- 

 ment in a patch of thin bush attracted our attention, and 

 we made out a little flock of ostriches. We spent a long 

 time trying to get a shot, but 500 yards was our shortest 

 range, and as we had a long march in front of us, 

 were reluctantly compelled to leave them. Soon after, 

 we came up to a small lot of oryx, and shot one as it 

 stood looking at us. The animal proved to be a cow, 

 with the longest horns I have ever bagged (34^ inches), 

 and weighed when clean 260 lbs. Later on I got 

 another, which we were sure was a bull from the thick- 

 ness of its horns, but it likewise jjro\'ed to be a cow. 

 As the pony had as much as it could do to carry the two 

 heads and skins and a little meat, I tramped on foot 

 from the time I left the caravan till 4 o'clock in the 

 afternoon, when we found our camp at Bilen, situated 

 at the foot of the steep descent from the plateau 

 to the valley of the Hawash. During the day 

 B. had bagged a zebra and W. an aul. 



Bilen, where we spent four days, is the name given to 

 a celebrated hot spring, which bubbles up from the mud 

 at a temperature of 1 10 degrees, and forms a pool some 

 25 yards across and 4 feet deep in the centre, with a soft 

 muddy bottom. In this pool the water is cool enough for 

 the natives to bathe, and all day long parties of them came 



