474 SIB E. G. LODEK ow THE " eeem" axtelope. [June 5, 



saw several small herds of Gazella dorcas, but no tracks even of any 

 other Gazelle. We did not seem to be any nearer to obtaining a 

 Eeem than when we started from Biskra. 



At night, when we got back to camp, we were told that a negro 

 camel-herd had been there during the day, and had said that we 

 were not at all in the right country for Eeem, that he was well 

 acquainted with the animal and knew where it was to be found. 

 He came into camp again the next morning and told us that the 

 Eeem had long slender hoofs and tender feet, lived only in 

 the soft sand, and would be unable to run on hard stony desert 

 such as that roimd Hamraia. He said he could take us to the 

 Eeem country, in rolling sand-hills, but we should not be able to 

 camp very near as there was no water for our horses and pack- 

 animals. 



We agreed to go with him, and he led us a day's march still far- 

 ther south towards the Oued Souf, and then turned off the caravan- 

 track to the east and chose a camp in the sand about an hour and 

 a half from water. (Almost all the water in the desert is brackish 

 and bad, but the water we got here was positively nasty.) 



The next morning we left camp very early on horseback, -nith 

 the negro on foot and an Arab hunier riding a mule. The negro 

 led the way at a tremendous pace, keeping up a good trot in the 

 soft sand and sometimes running fast for a couple of miles w ith- 

 out a stop across the dry arm of a chott, keeping us at a hand- 

 gallop most of the time. 



After two hours and a half the negro pointed out the first track 

 of the Eeem, which is quite easily to be distinguished from that of 

 Gazella dorcas from its much greater length. AV'e now unsaddled 

 the horses, tied them up, and went off in two parties to hunt for 

 Eeem. The negro led the way in front of me, going slowly and 

 with great caution, as the Eeem is extrenjely wary and against the 

 nearly white sand can detect a moving object a long way off. We 

 had not walked very far when we saw the head of a Eeem lookinor 

 over the top of a sand-ridge at about 300 yards distance. AVe 

 stayed for a long time perfectly still behind a tuft of tall alpha 

 grass, till at last the head disappeared. As soon as it was out 

 of sight we ran as hard as we could across the bare sand to the top 

 of the next ridge, and again sheltered ourselves behind a tuft of 

 alpha. When we looked out cautiously we saw that the Eeem 

 had moved on to another sand-hill more to our left, and was again 

 showing just the top of his head over it. We had, however, con- 

 siderably reduced the distance. Again he stopped perfectly still for 

 a long time and then turned and moved off. We ran to another 

 ridge, and I caught sight of him trotting to the top of the sand-hill 

 beyond at about 150 yards. At the top he turned and I fired at 

 once and got him. A lucky shot ! as the distance was long for so 

 small an animal. It was a good male, with horns 13 inches lontr. 

 I have not seen any much longer than these. 



After taking the Eeem back to the place where we had left the 

 horses, we started off again, and during the day saw several small 



