60 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



Disappointed, we rode on, passing the old site of an ostrich's 

 nest, marked now only by broken egg-shells, and saw nothing 

 more until the tracker, who was in front, suddenly pointed in 

 a very excited manner to the right, where six ostriches, startled 

 by seeing us, were half running, half flying, going away at a 

 great pace, and, unfortunately, a long way off. Two rapid shots 

 had, apparently, no result ; it was a very pretty sight, though, to 

 see these enormous birds skimming over the ground ; they were 

 soon lost to view, and the only ones I ever met with. 



About noon we saw, through a narrow belt of dome-palms, 

 the sandy bed of the river below us, and walking along it, 

 cropping here and there a bit of grass or some herb which 

 grew in the moist soil, nellut, and ariel, and dorcas gazelles. 

 After watching them for a short time, delighted with the, to 

 a sportsman's eye, most attractive picture, we rode down the 

 steep bank, and soon discovered a reason for the presence of so 

 much game. The water here was evidently quite close to the 

 surface in fact, in one part the soil was swampy and covered 

 with grass, on the fresh shoots of which the gazelles had been 

 feeding. Here and there were shallow excavations in the sand 

 made by various animals, filled partially with water ; a little 

 further on, at the foot of some rocks, a large pool sparkled in 

 the sun, and yet another higher up, with innumerable tracks of 

 every kind of gazelle and antelope, of hyenas and jackals, 

 leading up to and from them. But a mightier animal than any 

 of these had been in the habit of quenching its nightly thirst at 

 these shallow reservoirs, for winding along the river-bed was the 

 deep, hard-trodden path of elephants, which in stately single 

 file had up to lately marched along here in quest of the now 

 rare and precious draughts. However, a few days ago there had 

 been a sudden stop to these visits ; the elephants had come once 

 too often, for, taking advantage of their nightly habit, a native 

 hunter had ensconced himself one evening on a rock above the 

 pool, successfully hiding behind some dome-palm leaves, and 

 waited patiently with his smooth-bore until one of the thirsty 

 herd gave him the chance of a successful shot at close 

 quarters. The victim, mortally wounded, only went a few yards 

 further ; there lay its skeleton near the bank, and despoiled 

 of teeth, hide and flesh, the carcase was now guarded by 

 some hungry vultures and buzzards. The country around 



