CHAPTER XXII.

Departure for Om Hagar. — Good Sport. — Arrival at Om Hagar.— Buffalo Tracks. — Capture of the Frst Hippopotamus. — Visit from Hamran Sheik's Son. — The Last Hippopotamus. — Marabou Storks.— Purchase of a Tortoise. — A Splendid Buck Nclliit shot.

Before leaving Om Gedat, we engaged as guides a couple of Hamrans, who turned out fairly useful.

The appearance of the country between this point and Om Hagar considerably improved, and was, to a sportsman's eye, decidedly more promising. The hills that bordered the river, though still steep and stony, were less rugged than those we were leaving behind us ; while, beyond, the country opened out into a plain, interspersed with small hills on the north side of the river, and apparently boundless to the south of it. The trees, too, that fringed the river, were much greener and larger than heretofore, thereby affording more covert for the game we hoped to find. Dotted about amidst grateful shade, were the giant habitations of the white ants {termites), nowhere more numerous, or of larger size, than in this part of the country. Our tents were pitched on a spot high above the river, with a grassy lawn sloping down to the water, well known to Ali our cook, who had previously spent much time in the same place. He lost no time in establishing himself under a leafy bower, to which he apparently considered that he possessed a prescriptive right, by virtue of old association.

On the opposite side of the river, but a little lower down, 189