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upon the skirt of the plateau, from which the Fayoum can be seen, and here the 
shikaries decided to turn back, as they said we had passed the ‘ White Gazelle ground’ ; 
so, after returning about two miles, we set up the tents and waited for the Coa the 
sun being so hot that it was impossible to continue our search, 
“ During the afternoon the two shikaries constructed traps, which we set in the 
evening. 
“The Gazelle trap, except the small hemp-platted rope, is made entirely from the 
date-palm. Taking the long leaves, the shikarie first constructs by platting them 
together a deep ring, about 3 inches in diameter and about 4 inches deep: it should, in 
fact, fit well into a golf-hole and make its walls secure. He now takes an old stalk 
from which the dates have been picked, and separating about twenty of the fibres which 
compose it, and run its whole length, he twists them into a rude bracelet about three 
inches in diameter. Then taking three more fibres, in place of twine, he binds the ring 
securely ; the ring or bracelet has then a form much resembling a diminutive ‘ Ringold’ 
ring. The shikarie now breaks off the points of the date-thorns until he has about 
twenty-five of them 2 inches in length; these he pushes through the fibrous sides of the 
ring until all the points meet in the centre, so that when finished this ring has much 
the appearance of a small sieve. All the thorn-points overlap slightly in the centre of 
the ring. This ring, holding all the thorns, the deep ring of platted leaves, and a soft 
thick hemp rope, made by the Arab himself, by the ordinary three-plat from raw hemp 
(this rope, being soft, not only binds itself more securely to the Gazelle, but does not 
cut the skin when drawn tight), attached to a date-stick about a yard in length, are all 
the implements that an Arab requires to catch a Gazelle. 
“« Starting in the evening for the lower ground, which is studded with small bushes 
(for when pitching the tents we purposely kept at a good distance from the feeding- 
ground), we soon found spoor, but none very promising ; a buck and two does had been 
there two nights before. A small desert plant, much resembling our English: Red 
Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), was pointed out to me by the Arabs as a favourite 
food of the Gazeiles. Finding a spot where the spoor led to one of these plants, and 
the plant evidently having been nibbled at, we decided to put a trap near it. The Arab 
sat down and made a hole, using his deep ring to keep its sandy walls intact, so that 
he now had a hole resembling exactly in size and depth a golf-hole with basket-work 
sides, within four or five inches of the plant. 
«Taking now the thorny ring he places it on the hole, which it should exactly cap. 
He now powders up some camel-dung and drops it carefully over the thorns in the ring, 
which being close together hold it up, so that soon nothing can be seen of the thorns. 
The use of the dried dung is, to hold up the sand which hides the trap. The hemp rope, 
now made into a slip-noose, is put round the top ring, and the stick to which it is 
attached buried in the sand. The whole is now carefully covered with sand. One of 
the shikaries laid his traps so successfully that it was almost impossible to find one 
again unless a Gazelle was caught init. The marks like those of a Gazelle made by 
the fingers over the trap add to the deception. It is curious to remark that a Gazelle 
will rarely walk over an impression left by either beast or man in the sand, 
