44 
SAVAGE SUDAN 
Nile navigation is aided by no marks or buoys ; none 
are needed. Where these mobs of water-fowl assemble 
clearly indicates the position of shoals and shallows. 
At first I spent delightful days cruising among these 
hosts, content to study the fowl, endeavouring to establish 
a census of their species, without troubling to think of 
the gun at all. Then the spirit of the wildfowler awoke. 
Egyptian Geese— First Shot on White Nile. 
I remember my first shot on White Nile. Five geese 
swept indiscreetly across our bows and two fell. Ere the 
second had reached the water, I heard a splash behind. 
One of my Arab crew—clothes and all (or what there 
pass for clothes)—had dived from the deck. He swam 
with curious overhand action and retrieved both geese. 
Some smart flight-shooting is obtainable both at dusk 
and dawn by taking post either on islands or at salient 
points alongshore where the fowl have been observed to 
pass. Away from the actual river itself, no “flighting” 
