A very cold windy morning. The thermometer fell to “freezing” during the night. Took the pack of hounds out, and explored the mountains to the north-west; but saw no ibex and very little spoor. Found three small pools of dirty water in a deep gorge about an hour from here. These are not marked in the map which, however, only marks the places where there is “enough to water one hundred camels.” The north wind was like ice all day, and the fog of this morning never quite cleared off. Lovely sunset this evening. We are getting short of meat, so Powney or I will have to go hunting to-morrow (Sunday) from necessity.
Munfia,
January 25th, 1891.
Powney was out all day and saw nothing, a bitterly cold wind blowing, 33° Fahr. in the early morning. I suspect the ibex hide in the mountains this cold weather, and won’t come out. We had to kill our pet goat to-day for food, as we have no meat and our flour is running short. We make our bread now—half flour and half potatoes; this saves the former. I stayed in camp and spent the time in carving a saltspoon out of a piece of mimosa. Never took off my overcoat all day.
Munfia,
January 26th, 1891.
Cold night again, but lovely morning; cool wind which makes walking pleasant. Killed an ibex about five miles from camp in some low cinder mountains at the edge of the range. He, as usual, on being hunted by the dogs, took refuge in a cleft of the rock in the side of a low precipice. The express ·450 bullet cut his heart and lungs all to bits, but did no injury to the meat. It is a mistake to use an “express” for these beasts as, unless one hits them exactly in the right place, the meat is spoiled. Powney has a ·500 express, big enough to kill an ox with. If he does get any game it will be blown to pieces. Ernest’s rifle, which he lent me to bring out as a spare rifle, is a ·500 pure and simple. He said it was some bore which no one had ever heard of before. I wonder how he came to make such a mistake. The full moon looked lovely, rising behind the mountain, to-night. We amused ourselves playing picquet this evening, before dinner. We have to go to bed very early as candles are precious and getting scarce.
Munfia,
January 27th, 1891.
No game killed to-day, so nothing particular to record. One degree of frost last night. Took an inventory of our stores to-day. Our flour will only last four more days at the most, and the rice is nearly done. After a great deal of bargaining we managed to buy a bag containing about fifteen pounds of coarse native flour, price fifteen piastres. This we mixed with our old stock, and now have enough for ten days. We are on a fixed ration of food now, based on the supposition that we can reach Kenneh on February 15th. When the flour is all done we shall have to buy “dhurra” from our camel drivers, and grind it between two stones.