We Saw Several Nellut (Taurotragus Strepsiceros),
But These Superb Antelopes Were Too Wild To Allow A Close
Approach.
The evening drew near, and we had nothing to eat, when
fortunately I espied a fine black-striped gazelle (Gazella
Dorcas), and with the greatest caution I stalked it to within
about a hundred paces, and made a successful shot with the
Fletcher rifle, and secured our dinner.
Thus provided, we
selected a steep sugarloaf-shaped hill, upon the peak of which we
intended to pass the night. We therefore cleared away the grass,
spread boughs upon the ground, lighted fires, and prepared for a
bivouac. Having a gridiron, and pepper and salt, I made a grand
dinner of liver and kidneys, while my men ate a great portion of
the gazelle raw, and cooked the remainder in their usual careless
manner by simply laying it upon the fire for a few seconds until
warmed half through. There is nothing like a good gridiron for
rough cooking; a frying-pan is good if you have fat, but without
it, the pan is utterly useless. With a gridiron and a couple of
iron skewers a man is independent:--the liver cut in strips and
grilled with pepper and salt is excellent, but kabobs are
sublime, if simply arranged upon the skewer in alternate pieces
of liver and kidney cut as small as walnuts, and rubbed with
chopped garlic, onions, cayenne, black pepper, and salt. The
skewers thus arranged should be laid either upon the glowing
embers, or across the gridiron.
"Not a man closed his eyes that night--not that the dinner
disagreed with them--but the mosquitoes! Lying on the ground, the
smoke of the fires did not protect us; we were beneath it, as
were the mosquitoes likewise; in fact the fires added to our
misery, as they brought new plagues in thousands of flying bugs;
with beetles of all sizes and kinds: these, becoming stupified in
the smoke, tumbled clumsily upon me, entangling themselves in my
long beard and whiskers, crawling over my body, down my neck, and
up my sleeping-drawers, until I was swarming with them; the bugs
upon being handled squashed like lumps of butter, and emitted a
perfume that was unbearable. The night seemed endless; it was
passed in alternately walking to and fro, flapping right and left
with a towel, covering my head with a pillow-case, and gasping
for air through the button-hole, in an atmosphere insufferably
sultry.
"At length morning dawned, thank Heaven! I made a cup of strong
coffee, ate a morsel of dhurra bread, and started along the high
ground parallel with the course of the Settite river up stream.
"After walking for upwards of four hours over ground covered with
tracks of giraffes, elephants, and antelopes about a fortnight
old, I saw four tetel (Antelopus Bubalis), but I was unfortunate
in my shot at a long range in high grass. We had been marching
south-east, and as I intended to return to camp, we now turned
sharp to the west.
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