We turned in early. During the night I was awakened by the sound of torrents of rain beating down on the tent. I rose and looked cautiously out. A noise from El Hakim’s tent at once attracted my attention, and gazing in that direction I saw El Hakim himself, clad only in a diminutive shirt, busily engaged in placing the ground-sheet of his tent over the stacked loads. He was getting splashed considerably. I did not disturb him, but retired once more to my blankets, perfectly satisfied that the loads were being properly looked after. In the morning the sky was as clear as crystal, while the parched earth showed no traces of the heavy shower that had fallen during the night. We travelled over the same kind of country as that traversed the day before, dry brown earth, burnt grass, and loose stones being the most noticeable features, if I except the ubiquitous rhinoceros, of which truly there were more than “a genteel sufficiency.” In fact, they proved a terrible nuisance, as we had sometimes to make long _détours_ in order to avoid them. They were not only capable of doing so, but seemed only too anxious to upset our safari. The men were mortally afraid of them, and much preferred their room to their company. After a couple of hours on the road we saw in the distance a large swamp, which we had not previously noticed, surrounded for a radius of a mile or so by thorn-bush, which grew a great deal thicker than on other parts of the plain. The quantity of game we saw on the road was simply incredible. Vast herds of oryx, zebra, and grantei, roamed over the landscape; ostriches and giraffes were also in sight, and, of course, rhinoceros. It is a sportsman’s paradise, and as yet, with one or two exceptions, untouched.