Friday, 9th.—After day-light, left the village of Malem Moodie, having given his female slaves who brought the pudding and millet the full price in cowries, and the old Malem two gora nuts: the old man was quite pleased with the present, and accompanied me a little distance on the road, calling at two other villages on the road-side to show his guest to the people. Though they have seen me fifty times, every man and woman, for twenty miles round Soccatoo, still their curiosity is as great as ever, examining my dress, and the dress of my servant Richard; the buttons of brass they always call gold: also my English bridles, and the cloth of my trousers, and my coat, which is a striped printed dressing-gown, draw the attention of all the women, young and old, who beg always a piece of the same to tie round their heads: all good things, they say, we have got. They call me the big Christian, and my servant Richard the little Christian: my old name of Abdulla is seldom used, except by those who knew me when I was here before, and that only to my face. At 10 A.M. arrived at Magaria. My friend Malem Moodie was not at home; but I took up my quarters at my old house; and Moodie’s wife, the one that lives here (for he has four wives and sixteen concubines), sent me plenty of milk and doura. Moodie arriving, I told him I had come to remain a few days to shoot, and I wanted a man to show me the ground: he soon got me one, and I had every thing ready to start next morning. Saturday, 10th.—A little after day-light left Magaria, and riding through between a number of plantations of cotton on the low ground, which had been covered during the rains, we came on to the rice ground, which is now covered with fine green grass, and has several small lakes and pools of water formed by the ancient beds of the river. The sides of the lakes and pools were swampy for a considerable distance, so that there was no getting within reach of the birds with small shot. They consisted of the white and gray pelican, the Muscovy duck, Egyptian goose, ducks, widgeons, and snipes; the heron, adjutant, ibis, and a small white crane were numerous. On the low flat were feeding, amongst the herds of bullocks, five or six of the large red antelopes, between the size of the common antelope and the nylghau, of a red colour, about as high as a small ass, with large thick horns, called by the Arabs the hamoria, and by the people marea. I did not look after them, as there was little cover, but rode over to the north side of the flat, where the river lies, expecting to find plenty of game and plenty of cover. On approaching through the flats, and within about a mile of the river, the woods were almost impenetrable, abounding in wild hogs and guinea-fowl: of the latter I shot some, but the hogs were forbidden fruits. I had no wish to kill them, except to eat, or to have their skins; and my own servants would have been the first to have held me up to abomination