Florian was a Bavarian who came to Khartoum in the service of the Austrian Mission, employed as a mason. This man had a natural aptitude for mechanical contrivances, and quickly abandoning the Jesuit Mission, after the completion of the extensive convent at the junction of the two Niles, he and a carpenter of the same nation formed a partnership of hunters and traders, establishing themselves at Sofi on the frontier of Abyssinia. They built a couple of circular huts of neatly squared stones, and not only shot hippopotami in the Atbara river, but manufactured extremely good whips from their skins. These were very superior in finish to the ordinary "courbatch" of the Arabs, and they met with a ready sale. Florian excelled as a carpenter, although a mason by profession; he made exquisite camel saddles for the Arab sheiks; these (moghaloufa) were cut from the heart of a tough wood which never warped (Rhamnus Lotus), and were highly prized by the experienced Arabs of the desert. The rainy season was industriously employed in such useful manufactures, and when the dry months arrived, these two excellent men started upon hunting expeditions, and combined business with pleasure. Although Florian was clever with both head and hands, he was a bad shot; his guns were of a common and dangerous description, one of which burst, and blew his left thumb and forefinger off. After his recovery from this accident he still excelled in work, but he was exceedingly clumsy with his weapons, which were always going off by accident. Upon several occasions these unintentional explosions took place so close to my own head that I suggested it would be safer should he adopt solitary rambles instead of shooting in company. One night he killed an elephant while watching by moonlight at a drinking-place. On the following morning he sent a trustworthy Tokroori native with an axe to cut out the tusks. The man presently returned with the news that a large lion had eaten a portion of the elephant, and was lying asleep close by, beneath a tree. Florian immediately gave his man a single-barrelled rifle, and taking a double smooth-bore himself, the two proceeded together towards the spot. Upon arrival at the place where the body of the elephant was lying, the lion was immediately discovered beneath a leafless bush, where it had been seen by the Tokroori. The animal appeared to be thoroughly gorged with elephant's flesh, and, half asleep in the hot sun, it took very little notice of the two men, but remained crouched upon the bare ground, neither grass nor leaves at that dry season existing to form a cover for retreat.