I took a few men to beat tie low jungle within the
forest, for francolin partridge, numbers of which I
had seen running through the covert. I went up
the dry bed of the river at the junction of the Hor
Gubba, while they drove towards me, and I was
compelled to fire as fast as I could load, as these
beautiful birds flew across the ravine. I shot five
brace almost immediately. There is no better game
bird than the francolin : the flesh is white, and of a
most delicate and rich flavour. My shots had
•attracted the aggageers, and shortly after my return
to camp they arrived with my Arabs, as they had been
stationed on the opposite side of the Royan in a forest
within a quarter of a mile of us. Taher Sherrif was
delighted to see us free from the company of Abou
Do. His party had killed several elephants, and had
* captured two young ones; also, two young rhinoceros,
three giraffes, and several young antelopes : these were
to be sold to Johann Schmidt, who had contracted to
supply the Italian agent at Cassala. I agreed to have a
long day’s hunt with Taher Sherrif; we were to start
before sunrise, as he wished to ride to a spot about
twenty-five miles distant, up the course of the Royan
that was a favourite resort for elephants.
That evening we had a delicious dinner of francolin
partridges. This species is rather larger than the
French partridge: it is dark brown, mottled with black
feathers, with a red mark around the eye, and double
spurs.
There was a small but deep pool of water in the
bed of the river, beneath the high bank about two
hundred paces from our camp; this was a mere hole
of about twenty feet square, and I expected that
large game might come to drink during the night.
Accordingly, I determined to watch for elephants^ as
their tracks were numerous throughout the bed of
the river. My wife and two gun-bearers accompanied
me, and we sat behind an immense tree that grew
on the bank, exactly above the drinking place. I
watched for hours, until I fell asleep, as did my men
likewise . my wife alone was awake, and a sudden
tug at my sleeve attracted my attention. The moon
was bright, and she had heard a noise upon the
branches of the tree above u s: there were no leaves,
therefore I quickly observed some large animal upon
a tluck bough. My Tokrooris had awoke, and they
declared it to be a baboon. I knew this to be impossible,
as the baboon is never solitary, and I was
just preparing to fire, when down jumped a large
leopard within a few feet of us, and vanished before
I had time to shoot.- It must have winded our
party, and quietly ascended the tree to reconnoitre.
Nothing but hyaenas came to the pool, therefore we
returned to camp.
According to my agreement, I went to the agga-
geers camp at 5 a.m., with Hadji Ali and Hassan,
both mounted on my two horses, Aggahr and Gazelle,
while I rode Tetel. Taher Sherrif requested me not
to shoot at anything, as the shots might alarm and
scare away elephants ; therefore I merely carried my