348 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



he would soon be weakened by home-sickness and rendered 

 unfit for the work before him. Nor does time allow him much 

 opportunity; long spells of work and journeying clog his 

 mind in the waking hours, and at night thought is smothered 

 under the weight of a tired body for which there comes no 

 day of rest. Soon the days are lost count of and go nameless, 

 known only by numbers like prisoners, and the weeks pass 

 without beginning or end. 



This particular Christmas called all the more for celebra- 

 tion, for it marked the last camp together. On the morrow 

 Talbot was to leave for England, taking with him as far as 

 Maifoni the Hausa escort and a large number of the carriers, 

 while Gosling was to set out to hunt elephant. 



It was important that we should have meat for our 

 feast, so on Christmas Eve, Gosling and Jose organised 

 a hartebeest hunt on horseback, as the people of Kanem 

 hunt the giraffe. My brother's horse, Mandara, was espe- 

 cially useful for this work, as he was very fast. A herd 

 of twenty was sighted feeding in the open ground by the 

 Lake to the south, and the hunters walked their horses 

 to within about five hundred yards, when the herd started 

 moving. They then rode at it for all they were worth, 

 dismounting at two hundred yards to fire. They were 

 successful in getting a fine animal, which furnished a variety 

 of dishes for the Christmas dinner. In the morning all 

 the camp came and wished us a Happy Christmas, and 

 each received a " dash " of cloth. Umuru and Galadima 

 accompanied their felicitations with a present of mice which 

 they had caught the night before, believing that they would 

 be most acceptable to me, for they regarded all the skins 



