CH. xv] WE MEET SIR W. GARSTIN 453 
grass. Meanwhile, Kermit killed, on drier ground, a 
youngish male of the white-eared kob. 
Next morning we were up at the Bahr el Zeraf. At 
ten we sighted from the boat several herds of white¬ 
eared kob, and Kermit and I went in different directions 
after them, getting four. The old rams were very hand¬ 
some animals, with coats of a deep rich brown that was 
almost black, and sharply contrasted black and white 
markings on their faces; but it was interesting to see 
that many of the younger rams, not yet in the fully 
adult pelage, had horns as long as those of their elders. 
The young rams and ewes were a light reddish-yellow, 
being in colour much like the ewes of the saddle-back 
lechwe ; and there was the usual disproportion in size 
between the sexes. With each flock of ewes and young 
rams there was ordinarily one old black ram ; and some 
of the old rams went by themselves. The ground was 
so open that all my shots had to be taken at long range. 
In habits they differed from the saddle-back lechwes, 
for they were found on dry land, often where the grass 
was quite short, and went freely among the thorn- 
trees ; they cared for the neighbourhood of water merely 
as ordinary waterbuck or kob care for it. 
Here we met another boat, with aboard it Sir W illiam 
Garstin, one of the men who have made Egypt and the 
Soudan what they are to-day, and who have thereby 
rendered an incalculable service, not only to England, 
but to civilization. 
We had now finished our hunting, save that once or 
twice we landed to shoot a buck or some birds for the 
table. It was amusing to see how sharply the birds 
discriminated between the birds of prey which they 
feared and those which they regarded as harmless. We 
saw a flock of guinea-fowl strolling unconcernedly about 
