THE ABBOO MEEA^ OR OOLDEN-CEESTED CRANE. 201 
through Atwat. The chiefs Amyang, son of Ayat, after receiving a 
pair of bracelets and some beads^ v/as well disposed^ and promised 
canoes^ in which our men were ferried across the lagoon. They at 
once proceeded to our old camping-ground at J emeed^ arriving there 
last evening. They complained bitterly of the treatment they had 
received from the negro porters who were to have conveyed them 
to the Rohl. All had been paid in advance. When bringing them 
to this spot the porters deserted ; however^ my brave fellows,, not 
daunted^ by dint of wading and swimming, reached the opposite 
shore with their twenty donkeys. After many futile attempts to 
hire porters in the Atwat, they managed, by instalments, in twelve 
days to carry the loads themselves to the Rohl. Remaining three 
days there to refresh themselves, they now returned, bringing us 
aid. Not having met with the party who left here yesterday, 
we have painful surmises that they also may have been dealt trea- 
cherously with. My wife^s fever is high, and at times her mind 
wanders ; leaving her in Muriels care, I rode out on Arab,^^ ac- 
companied by Aledineh, an old servant, on ‘^‘^Luxor.^^ Bush very 
thick, and grass to the shoulders. Knocked over some guinea-fowl, 
and a pair of Ahhoo Meea or Father of a thousand — the golden- 
crested crane. I sent a ball through the right wing and chest of 
the first royal crane, and when he was stalking away in the water, 
I was obliged to send a charge of shot after him, when he fell. 
The second, rising after the shot, only flew a few hundred yards, 
and, when rising, a charge of shot winging him, brought him down ; 
but falling on his legs, and making the best use of them, he struck 
ofP through high reeds for the open lagoon. A second barrel of 
buckshot had apparently no effect on him. Not wishing to injure 
his skin with a ball, and having no more large shot, I fired two 
barrels of No. 7 after him without effect. I returned to Medineh, 
