The Dogs Had Given Chase;
But, As Usual In Such Cases, They Were So Alarmed As To Be Almost
Useless.
We quickly collected firebrands and searched the jungles, and
shortly we arrived where a dog was barking violently.
Near this spot we
heard the moaning of some animal among the bushes, and upon a search
with firebrands we discovered the goat, helpless upon the ground, with
its throat lacerated by the leopard. A sudden cry from the dog at a few
yards' distance, and the barking ceased.
The goat was carried to the camp where it shortly died. We succeeded in
recalling two of the dogs, but the third, which was the best, was
missing, having been struck by the leopard. We searched for the body in
vain, and concluded that it had been carried off.
The country that we now traversed was so totally uninhabited that it was
devoid of all footprints of human beings; even the sand by the river's
side, that, like the snow, confessed every print, was free from all
traces of man. The Bas-e were evidently absent from our neighbourhood.
We had several times disturbed antelopes during the early portion of the
march, and we had just ascended from the rugged slopes of the valley,
when we observed a troop of about 100 baboons, which were gathering
gum-arabic from the mimosas; upon seeing us, they immediately waddled
off. "Would the lady like to have a girrit (baboon)?" exclaimed the
ever-excited Jali. Being answered in the affirmative, away dashed the
three hunters in full gallop after the astonished apes, who, finding
themselves pursued, went off at their best speed. The ground was rough,
being full of broken hollows, covered scantily with mimosas, and the
stupid baboons, instead of turning to the right into the rugged and
steep valley of the Settite, where they would have been secure from the
aggageers, kept a straight course before the horses. It was a curious
hunt. Some of the very young baboons were riding on their mother's
backs; these were now going at their best pace, holding onto their
maternal steeds, and looking absurdly humans but in a few minutes, as we
closely followed the Arabs, we were all in the midst of the herd, and
with great dexterity two of the aggageers, while at full speed, stooped
like falcons from their saddles, and seized each a half-grown ape by the
back of the neck, and hoisted them upon the necks of the horses. Instead
of biting, as I had expected, the astonished captives sat astride of the
horses, and clung tenaciously with both arms to the necks of their
steeds, screaming with fear.
The hunt was over, and we halted to secured the prisoners. Dismounting,
to my surprise the Arabs immediately stripped from a mimosa several
thongs of bark, and having tied the baboons by the neck, they gave them
a merciless whipping with their powerful coorbatches of hippopotamus
hide. It was in vain that I remonstrated against this harsh treatment;
they persisted in the punishment.
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