Wealth of tJie Soudan.

and bring up. These ostriches become as tame as chickens with us ; in the morning they go to the fields with the oxen, and return home in the evening.

But when it is a question of hunting, for the native who is without a gun and armed only with a lance, the affair changes its aspect. The ostrich is very swift for the first half -hour, then slackens its pace, and the Bagara succeeds in killing it by pursuing it on horseback. Its strength being exhausted, the ostrich opens its beautiful wings, and, assuming the attitude of one brooding, it awaits resignedly its end. But woe to the unskilful hunter who, believing it to be dead, approaches it, since, rising all at once, and raising its leg to the height of a man's head, it deals such a blow as to rip open any animal on which it may fall. Its body is generally very thin excepting the thighs, the flesh of which much resembles veal.

The Shilluks, however, do not venture to eat it, as a superstition is current among them which forbids them to do so.

An ostrich killed either in August or September, whose feathers have not been spoiled by a fly which attacks them frequently, fetches 20/., and even sometimes 2-5/. I saw one day a flock of ostriches all together, but the place being without trees, or any shelter, prevented me from approaching them. The safest way of hunting them is to follow the road they take towards four o'clock in the evening, when they go to drink, and await them on the spot. The foot of the ostrich, strong enough to rip open a horse, is apt to break as if it were of glass if the bird makes a false step on a rock. The ammunition most suitable for firing at the ostrich is No. l,but a sportsman will aim at the head so as not to stain the white feathers with blood.

But we must turn from the chase, the administration of Khartoum and the resources of the Soudan, to follow the story of our expedition. All these particulars seemed, however, necessary to explain how a