character. Abou Do was the only tall man of the
party, the others were of middle height, with the
exception of a little fellow named Jali, who was
not above five feet four inches, but wonderfully
muscular, and in expression a regular daredevil.
There were two parties of hunters, one under Abou
Do, and the other consisting of four brothers Sherrif.
The latter were the most celebrated aggageers among D O O O the renowned tribe of the Hamran; their father and
grandfather had been mighty Nimrods, and the
broadswords wielded by their strong arms, had descended
to the men who now upheld the prestige
of the ancient blades. The eldest was Taher Sherrif;
his second brother, Roder Sherrif, was a very
small, active-looking man, with a withered left arm.
An elephant had at one time killed his horse, and
on the same occasion had driven its sharp tusk
through the arm of the rider, completely splitting
the limb, and splintering the bone from the elbow-
joint to the wrist to such an extent, that by degrees
the fragments had sloughed away, and the arm had
become shrivelled ‘and withered. It now resembled
a mass of dried leather, twisted into a deformity,
without the slightest shape of an arm; this was
about fourteen inches in length from the shoulder;
the stiff and crippled hand, with contracted fingers,
resembled the claw of a vulture.
In spite of his maimed condition, Roder Sherrif
was the most celebrated leader in the elephant hunt.
His was the dangerous post to ride close to the
head of the infuriated animal and provoke the
charge, and then to lead the elephant in pursuit,
while the aggageers attacked it from behind; it was
in the performance of this duty that he had met
with the accident, as his horse had fallen over some
hidden obstacle, and was immediately caught. Being
an exceedingly light weight he had continued to
occupy this important position in the hunt, and the
rigid fingers of the left hand served as a hook,
upon which he could hang the reins.
My battery of rifles was now laid upon a mat
for examination ; they were in beautiful condition,
and they excited the admiration of the entire party.
The perfection of workmanship did not appear to
interest them so much as the size of the bores;
they thrust their fingers down each muzzle, until
they at' last came to the “ Baby,” when, finding
that two fingers could be easily introduced, they
at once fell in love with that rifle in particular.
My men explained that.it was a “ Jenna el Mootfah”
(child of a cannon). “ Sahd, Jenna el Mootfah
kabeer,” they replied (it is true, it is the child
of a very big cannon). Their delight was made
perfect by the exhibition of the half-pound explosive
shell, the effects of which were duly explained. I
told them that I was an old elephant hunter, but
that I did not hunt for the sake of the ivory, as
I wished to explore the country to discover the
■cause of the Nile inundations, therefore I wished to
^examine carefully the various Abyssinian rivers; but