CHAPTER XXIII.

Extracts from Diary. — Bait set for Lions. — Mosquitoes. — Among the Buffaloes again. — Beginning of the Homeward Journey. — Journey towards Lacatecourah. — The Village of Lacatecourah. — A Bonne Boiiche.

March 19. — William and I went out shooting together, and rode a long way on the south bank of the river. Saw one indd7'ify but miles off, and could not succeed in getting near it, and a few tetel and nelljtt, to which we paid no attention. I had a long shot at a boos {Klipspringcr oreotragtis saltatrix), which I unfortunately missed. This is the only antelope, I believe, that inhabits the part of the Soudan through which we travelled, that none of us ever shot. It is decidedly scarce, is larger than a gazelle, with long reddish hair, and has, for its size, big horns. Arthur saw either two or three lions, he could not say which. The first he caught a glimpse of as it vanished into some high grass, and, although he followed it, never saw it again ; the second he saw almost at the same moment, but at the top of a hill about three hundred yards off ; and the third he saw on returning towards camp over the same ground in the afternoon, and consequently could not be sure that it was not one of those he had seen in the morning. Qwing to the thickness of the covert, and the hardness of the ground, it was impossible to follow them for any distance. Lions are rarely to be caught in this chance way.

On our return to camp in the afternoon, we found Arthur, who told us about the lions ; and we immediately started off 202