1 82 SHEKEKERS.

We found a great many Beni-Amers from Haikota encamped in Khor Meheteb, who had quite an encampment two or three miles lower down than where we had spent the night.

They were there chiefly for the purpose of entrapping animals, their mode of doing so being the same as that practised by the Hamrans. Most of their game they obtain by means of snares, which they place on the paths made by animals on their way to drink.

They have a very ingenious invention, called sJicrekcr to prevent the noose from slipping off the leg before it has drawn tight. It is made in the following manner : two hoops are bound tightly together, and, between them, sharp pieces of tough wood are driven all round, their points just reaching the centre. Those intended for catching antelopes are about the size of a soup-plate ; but for buffaloes, giraffes, and other large-footed game, they are made much larger.

With a supply of shcrckcrs, as well as running-nooses, these latter made of twisted hide, the hunter is ready to commence operations. Having found a well-beaten track near to some watering-place, he digs a hole in the middle of it, about eighteen inches deep, and a little smaller in diameter than the sJicrckcr he intends to use. He next cuts a branch or small tree, just large enough to check the progress of the animal, but not to stop it ; to this he makes fast the loose end of the noose ; then he places the sJicrckcr over the hole, and arranges the noose over the sJicrcker brushing some loose earth over all in order to conceal the snare. Any animal, stepping on the pitfall, sinks down ; and, on starting back, the shereker remains