HOW WILD ANIMALS ARE CAUGHT 65 
who already had one infant on her back, picked up and went 
off with another whose mother had been shot. 
It is not often, however, that the hunters fail in their task, 
as on this occasion. When once the animals are enclosed in 
the trap their fate is sealed. The method of removing them 
from the trap is somewhat different from that already de- 
scribed. The old ones are shot; a small hole is then cut in 
the side of the trap, and to this is applied the mouth of a 
small cage. However they may clamber about the walls of 
the trap, the baboons inside are at last compelled to enter 
these small cages, in which they are safely carried oft. 
The natives catch baboons in the same way as other 
animals, namely, by pursuing them, when they come down 
into the plains to rob the doura fields, until they are 
thoroughly worn out. The young ones, and the mothers 
carrying babies, lag behind the rest, and are then easily 
isolated and secured. 
To return to the seriba at Atbara. The day of our de- 
parture is drawing near. The stalls and yard are filled with 
captive animals—young elephants, giraffes, hippopotami, and 
buffalo. Our primitive wooden cages are also well stocked. 
with panthers, pigs, and baboons ; so that the first part of our 
work—that of catching the animals—is completed. But now 
comes the second patt, which is attended with even greater 
difficulty than the first, namely, the transport of the animals 
across the desert to the port of embarkation on the Red Sea. 
In order that the transport may be successful it has to be 
organised with the most detailed thoroughness and foresight. 
The work before us is that of conveying across the waterless 
desert a party consisting of 150 head of cattle and over 100 
heavily-laden camels, together with the whole menagerie of 
captured animals. Ours, however, is a very orderly caravan, 
as it creeps along in the silence of the night, like a great 
snake, across the wide expanse of glistening sands. The 
moonlight throws long shadows behind the dunes; and the 
solitude is only broken now and again by the wild laugh of a 
5 
