The elephant is seen, in the places he frequents, in large herds of four or five hundred, according to report. It is even said that two thousand are sometimes found together; but I do not suspect the Arabs of extreme accuracy in counting. These people hunt him on horseback, having singled out a straggler from the herd; or aim at him with spears from the trees; or make pits into which he falls. His hide is applied to many useful purposes. The African elephant is smaller than the Asiatic, and probably of a different species. The meat is an article of food in great esteem with them. The fat forms a valuable unguent, and the teeth, as is well known, supply the merchants with immense profits. The buffaloe is not found tame in Soudân. The wild one is hunted by the Arabs, and serves them for food. The hippopotamus is killed for his skin, (which being remarkably tough, makes excellent shields, and whips not wholly unlike our horse-whips) and for his teeth, which are much superior to ivory. The horn of the rhinoceros, to which animal the Arabs have applied a term somewhat less appropriate than the Greek, but still characteristic, (_Abu-kurn_, father of the one horn,) makes a valuable article of trade, and is carried to Egypt, where it is sold at an high price, being used for sabre-hilts, and various other purposes. The more credulous attribute to it some efficacy as an antidote against poison. The antelope and the ostrich are extremely common throughout the empire. The civet-cat is not seen wild in the quarter which I visited, but is frequent enough farther to the South. Many are preserved in cages in the houses of the rich. The women apply the odour extracted from them to add to their personal allurements; and what is not thus disposed of becomes an article of trade. The lion and leopard, though common in a certain district, are not found near the seat of government. The Arabs hunt them, strip off the skin, which they sell, and often eat the flesh, which they conceive generates courage and a warlike disposition. They occasionally take them young, and bring them for sale to the Jelabs, who sometimes carry them as presents to the great men in Egypt. I purchased two lions: the one was only four months old when I bought him. By degrees, having little else to employ me, I had rendered him so tame, that he had acquired most of the habits of a dog. He satiated himself twice a week with the offal of the butchers, and then commonly slept for several hours successively. When food was given them they both grew ferocious towards each other, and towards any one who approached them. Except at that time, though both were males, I never saw them disagree, nor shew any sign of ferocity towards the human race. Even lambs passed them unmolested. The largest had grown to the height of thirty inches and a half over the shoulders.