THE VALUE OF BUFFALO 75 themselves stubbornly to endurance and dogged progression.

The Durraba Arabs who were good enough to accompany me for the sake of the meat I killed, and wlio doubtless acted in concert with the shikari, were quite disappointed that they were not provided with a hippo every day, and I noticed that the attention of all was fixed on ganioos (buffalo) in preference—indeed, until I realized it, almost to the exclusion of everything else. The most outlandish chance of finding buffalo was eagerly sought for, and various long walks indulged in after herds which had already sighted us and "vamosed." The hidden motive lay in the fact that the sooner donkeys could be loaded up with bales of dried meat, the less distance there would be for these worthies to travel back home. They, of course, constituted no tax on my caravan, but, on the other hand, refrained from being of any assistance unless actually obliged to, and were useless in the task of following up a wounded buck.

Thereafter I trusted less to the judgment of my friend the shikari.

On a previous visit to the White Nile, it had been my misfortune to haunch a Mrs. Gray's waterbuck. For a couple of miles under the midday sun I followed it up, a sporting bahari (sailor) attending me to my undoing. Aware that in all likelihood it would lie down to ease its wound, I kept my eyes well open, and, seeing a crooked stick projecting from a clump of grass, cautiously approached, deeming it