Struck camp again and came on to this water, which we reached at about 5.30 P.M. There were two difficult passes through the mountains for the camels, and we found we are nearly one thousand feet lower than yesterday.[12] We have agreed, after a lot of bargaining to hire the two men and their three dogs for 30s for ten days, to see how they get on. They began well by going off at about 3.30 P.M. into the mountain; sure enough! we heard yap! yap! yap! up the side of a valley about a mile off, which meant they had “treed” a beast of some sort. I seized my rifle, which I always carry ready slung on my camel saddle, and rushed off. I, fortunately, always carry a couple of cartridges in my waistcoat pocket. So I was soon running up the rocky slope to the foot of the mountains. Here we halted, and I took off my boots which my Arab carried in his hand. I was dripping with perspiration, but we hurried on up the face of the cliff to where we had heard the dogs. Here we found they had driven a wretched ibex into a corner. He had taken refuge in a hollow in the rock about halfway up a precipice about two hundred feet high. We crept like cats to the edge, and looked over; his horns were just visible below,—his body hidden, so that I could not shoot, though he was not above twenty feet below. We soon, however, found a place where I could creep down and hope to get a sight of him. So by slithering down on my back, and with the Arabs help, I eventually secured a position where I could see him about twenty yards on one side. He was “end on,” facing me, and looking down at the dogs, so there was little to aim at. Suddenly he saw me and raised his head,—an opportunity which I seized, and aimed well below his chin. The shot hit him just right fortunately, and he fell stone dead right to the bottom of the precipice. We now clambered round and secured the carcase from the hungry dogs who had not mauled it, but luckily contented themselves by licking up the blood. We carried our burden off, and found Powney had already pitched camp and got tea ready. We have had a few drops of rain here during the last few days, and this particular place is really quite cold. Powney sleeps in his Norsk reindeer bag, and does not find it too hot. We have got twenty days more to spend in the mountains, during which time we hope to get some sport, as there seems to be no Arabs here to disturb the game. My soldier servant fell asleep on his camel to-day and rolled off, much to everybody’s amusement.
CAMP AT EASTERN WELL, MUNFIA.
FARAG HAMMEDAH
| ARABS | C. P. POWNEY, GRENDR. GUARDS | MORINGA TREE | DAVIES AND FROGGATT |
Munfia,
January 23rd, 1891.
Powney went out to-day and visited the mountains on the Red Sea side of our camp, but saw no game. I stayed in camp in the morning and busied myself preparing the skin, head, and feet, &c., of yesterday’s ibex. I was sitting in the tent at about midday, when a “devil” suddenly came past and blew it down flat.[13] Luckily the bamboo ridge pole did not break, so we put up our home again; but presently another devil came, and blew it down a second time. We have now got guy ropes out from the tent poles and big rocks on all the pegs, so I hope we shall not get blown down again. In the evening I took my gun and visited the waterhole, distant about ten minutes walk. Our men had reported some partridges[14] (probably sandgrouse) as having been there in the morning, but none appeared when I was there. The well, which lies in a hollow at the foot of the mountains, is merely a hole scratched in the sand which contains about thirty gallons of dirty water, and is the worst we have so far seen; so dirty, in fact, that it has all to be boiled and filtered before we can use it. Hard by the well is a little stone enclosure containing a few miserable specimens of date palm, two mimosa bushes, and five Arab graves; this appears to be the Bedawi cemetery in these mountains. It is much colder here than at the Medisa camp; we are only one day from the Red Sea, which is visible from the mountain tops close by.
Munfia,
January 24th, 1891.