THE WILD FAUNA OP THE EMPIEE 



61 



west, we judged that the lagoons in that direction still contained 

 water, and in this case game animals doubtless find a refuge in 

 such places. We saw but few signs of the visits of heavy animals 

 to the river at night. Any traveller desiring to hunt on the west 

 hank, which alone is open to him until he has passed to the south 

 of the Sobat Eiver, should come provided with transport animals 

 with which to reach inland khors or lakes. Some Selim Arabs 

 are good shikaris. Such men are procurable at Eenk. They are 

 apt to tell travellers that they may shoot on the reserved bank, 

 and insidiously invite them to do so on the ground that everyone 

 does it, but I believe infractions of the rule are rare. 



The poor hippos have been much persecuted of late, and have 

 almost disappeared from the main stream. At one place on the 

 return voyage we saw a Greek merchant embarking many 

 thousands of dried strips of their hide, from which courbash are 

 manufactured in Khartoum. Between that place and Jebel Ain 

 there are now scarcely any hippos left. Further to the south, 

 where the water system is more complicated, they can take refuge 

 in the reed-belt and khors, inaccessible to man, and many survive. 

 At one place we saw a native hippo hunt at the critical moment. 

 They had succeeded in spearing the animal, and were following 

 him in a boat, guided by the bladder which is attached to the 

 spear head. We were near enough to see the hunted beast several 

 times come to the surface and threaten his pursuers with open 

 mouth, but our steamer did not stop long enough for us to be in 

 at the finish. The raiding propensities of the hippos are thought 

 to be sufficient reason for putting them beyond the pale, but 

 on the other hand it may be urged that their high value to 

 the natives both for meat and skin should save them from 

 extermination. 



Personally, having hunted in these regions before the Eeserve 

 was constituted, I was chiefly concerned, to reach the habitat of 

 the rare Gobus Maria or Mrs. Gray's antelope — rare, that is, in 

 collections — that very peculiar goat-like waterbuck first observed, 

 I think, by Petherick, consul at Khartoum in the Turkish times, 

 and explorer. By him, at least, the first specimens were sent 

 home, submitted for description to Mr. Gray, a naturalist attached 

 to the British Museum, who named it after his wife ; the lady was 

 not, as is sometimes supposed, a great explorer. It is a pity that 

 animal nomenclature is not more descriptive ; the ' black ante- 

 lope ' would be a more appropriate name. At Fashoda — which, 

 by the way, no longer exists, as it is now called Kodok and the 

 old mud fort has been levelled down to make a parade ground — 

 we left the steamer and embarked on a native gyassa to enable us 

 to make our researches at leisure. Our first digression was up the 

 Zeraf, but here we failed to find ' Mrs. Gray,' though it was other- 

 wise a fairly good game country. The banks in its lower reaohes 

 and for many miles up stream from its embouchure into the White 

 Nile are fairly high and solid, and in places covered with thorn 

 scrub. Here were many signs of elephant, lion and giraffe, though 



