TIANG 
89 
cepting our course. These, of course, we should have 
preferred to the biggest tiang in all Sudan ; but an exhaus¬ 
tive survey with the glass revealed quite inferior heads, so 
we withdrew and passed on, leaving- the twain in peace. 
But. . . was there ever such obstructive luck? Hardly 
had we gained the opposite covert, than in an embayed 
inlet we found ourselves face to face with two mighty 
giraffe! Both were browsing upon tall camel - thorns 
(Acacia horrida), twice their own height; but while the 
nearer showed up pale creamy-fulvous in hue, the second 
appeared quite dark. The discrepancy was, however, 
merely the effect of light and shade; for, while one giraffe 
happened to stand in full sunlight, the other was screened 
from the sun by intervening trees. 
We had been charged by the British Museum to bring 
home an entire specimen of the dark-coloured “reticulated 
giraffe ” ; so that (while assured in my own mind that 
that species does riot exist in the Sudan—nor does it) I felt 
in duty bound to put my doubts to the proof. Within 
a few minutes we had crept in near enough to satisfy 
ourselves that both giraffes were identical in colour—the 
common Sudan species. 
Precious minutes were lost both in the stalk and after¬ 
wards in extricating ourselves from the sight and scent 
of our long-necked friends, whom we left still browsing 
and unconscious of the interview. Meanwhile our tiang 
had got a mile away, circling round almost to leeward. 
During these protracted manoeuvres we had observed a 
second herd of tiang, and these now stood well up-wind 
and among big forest-trees. The midday sun was un¬ 
speakably hot, and I feared, after two obstructed stalks, 
that that first herd was not destined to be mine. Resolu¬ 
tion failed and, quite inexcusably, we transferred our 
efforts to what appeared to be an easier chance. I shall 
always regret that weakness, for our much-tried herd, 
we knew, held first-class heads; while, as the event 
proved, herd No. 2 did not. 
