and a half weight, which he laid upon the ground
while he stooped to blow up the fire; in an instant
a large buzzard' darted upon it, and carried it off.
“ Africa may have some charms, but it .certainly is
rather a trying country; in the rainy weather we
have the impenetrable high grass, the flies, and the
mud; when those entertainments are over, and the
grass has ripened, every variety of herb and bush
is more or less armed with lances, swords, daggers,
bayonets, knives, spikes, needles, pins, fish-hooks,
hay-forks, harpoons, and every abomination in the
shape of points, which render a leather suit indispensable
to a sportsman, even in this hot climate.
My knickerbockers are made of the coarse but strong
Arab cotton cloth, that I have dyed brown with the
fruit of the Acacia Arabica; but after a walk of a
few minutes, I am one mass of horrible points from
the spear grass, for about a foot from the upper
part of my gaiters; the barbed points having penetrated,
break off, and my trousers are as comfortable
as a hedgehog’s skin turned inside out, with the
“ woolly side in.”
I long for the time when the entire country
will be dry enough to burn, when fire will make
a clean sweep of these nuisances.
“ October 17.—The sheik and several Arabs went
to the Settite to sow tobacco; they simply cast
the seed upon the sandy loam left by the receding
river, without even scratching the soil; it is
thus left to take its chance. I accompanied him
to the Settite, and came upon the tracks of a
herd of about fifty elephants that had crossed the
river a few days previous. As we were walking
through the high grass we came upon a fine boa
constrictor (python), and not wishing to fire, as I
thought I might disturb elephants in the neighbourhood,
I made a cut at it with my heavy hunting
knife, nearly severing about four feet from the tail,
but it escaped in the high grass.
“ October 18.—A lion paid us a visit, last night,
roaring close to the tent at intervals, frightening
Mahomet out of his wits.
“ The seroot fly has entirely disappeared, and
immense dragon flies are now arrived, and are
greedily attacking all other flying insects.
“October 19. — Troops of baboons are now
exceedingly numerous, as the country being entirely
dried up, they are forced to the river for water,
and the shady banks covered with berry-bearing
shrubs induce them to remain. It is very amusing
to watch these great male baboons stalking
majestically along, followed by a large herd of all
ages, the mothers carrying their little ones upon
their backs, the latter with a regular jockey seat
riding most comfortably, while at other times they
relieve the monotony of the position by sprawling
at full length and holding on by their mother’s
back hair. Suddenly a sharp-eyed young ape discovers
a bush well covered with berries,' and his
greedy munching being quickly observed, a general