1426 The Zoologist — November, 1868. 



with these, modestly enough, but always intelligibly, we feel that he 

 might truly say of these struggles, 



" Quorum pars magna fui :" 



we feel that we can receive with unqualified belief everything he 

 asserts, even to the most minute detail ; but when we read such 

 descriptions, and contemplate such figures as those to which I have 

 referred, we cannot help wondering what evil spirit could have 

 induced him to venture on tasks for which he was so unqualified. 

 On the other hand, nothing can be finer than the description of one of 

 the rhinoceros hunts : a pair of these massive creatures were found 

 lying side by side, like a couple of pigs, under a mimosa bush : up 

 they rose, and galloped off neck and neck, like a pair of carriage- 

 horses regularly broken to their work. Sir Samuel and his mounted 

 aggageers immediately pursue, the dark forms of the Arabs contrasting 

 strongly with the yellow sand, their long straight hair floating behind 

 them, and their naked swords flashing in the blazing sun : on sweeps 

 the calvacade like a simoom ; on, on, for twenty minutes the pursued 

 and the pursuers have maintained their utmost speed ; at last the 

 forestry appears in sight and the quarry escapes, one, however, 

 receiving a sword-cut from the foremost aggageer as his unwieldly 

 form disappears in the impenetrable jungle. 



The great eastern affluent of the Nile, known as the Atbara, is the 

 principal scene of Sir Samuel Baker's exploits. This little known and 

 still very imperfectly explored river, presents characters as interesting 

 to the zoologist as they are instructive to the geographer. In no 

 part is the stream, when stream there is, less than four hundred yards 

 in width ; in many places this width is greatly exceeded. The banks 

 are from twenty-five to thirty feet high, but the river, at the period 

 when Sir Samuel reached its banks, was not only partially dry, but so 

 glaring was the sandy bed that the reflection of the sun was almost 

 unbearable. Great numbers of the dome palm {Hyphcene thebaiea) 

 grow on its banks, and this singular tree appears to be the great 

 support of life during the dry season. The Arabs then forsake the 

 deserts and flock to the river-banks, not only for the sake of the fruit 

 of the palm and the seed-pods of the mimosa, but also because 

 animal life is in spots so abundant, and therefore food so readily 

 attainable. Here and there, at intervals of three or four miles, were 

 pools of deep water, and around these the Arab inhabitants had esta- 

 blished little villages or camps of the usual mat-tents, constructed of 

 palm-leaves. 



