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Show 864 ON LODER'S G A Z E L L E I N EGYPT. [Dec. 3, was a fine female, very white in colour. Not wishing to disturb any others that might be near, I did not fire. W e found, however, that it was alone. At 12 o'clock or thereabouts we came upon the skirt of the plateau, from which the Fayoum can be seen, and here the shikaries decided to turn back, as they said w e had passed the " White Gazelle ground ;" so, after returning about two miles, we set up the tents and waited for the evening, the sun being so hot that it was impossible to continue our search. Two Arabian greyhounds 1 had with m e felt the heat especially. No sooner were tbe camels on the ground than, going to the shady side, they began to dig in the sand under the beasts in order to bury themselves away from the heat. During the afternoon the two shikaries constructed traps, which we set in the evening. The Gazelle trap, except the small hemp-platted rope, is made entirely from the date-palm. Taking the long leaves, the shikarie first constructs by platting them together a deep ring, about 3 inches in diameter and about 4 inches deep : it should, in fact, fit well into a golf-bole and make its walls secure. He now takes an old stalk from which the dates have been picked, and separating about twenty of the fibres which compose it, and run its whole length, he twists them into a rude bracelet about three inches in diameter. Then taking three more fibres, in place of twine, he binds the ring securely; the ring or bracelet has then a form much resembling a diminutive " Eingold" ring. The shikarie now breaks off the points of the date-thorns until he has about twenty-five of them 2 inches in length; these he pushes through the fibrous sides of the ring until all the points meet in the centre, so that when finished this ring has much the appearance of a small sieve. All the thorn-points overlap slightly in the centre of the ring. This ring, holding aU the thorns, the deep ring of platted leaves, and a soft thick hemp rope, made by the Arab himself, by the ordinary three-plat from raw hemp (this rope, being soft, not only binds itself more securely to the Gazelle, but does not cut the skin when drawn tight), attached to a date-stick about a yard in length, are all the implements that an Arab requires to catch a Gazelle. Starting in the evening for the lower ground, which is studded with small bushes (for when pitching the tents w e purposely kept at a good distance from the feeding-ground), w e soon found spoor, but none very promising ; a buck and two does bad been there two nights before. A small desert plant, much resembling our English Bed Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum), was pointed out to m e by the Arabs as a favourite food of the Gazelles. Binding a spot where the spoor led to one of these plants, and the plant evidently having been nibbled at, w e decided to put a trap near it. The Arab sat down and made a hole, using his deep ring to keep its sandy walls intact, so that he now had a hole resembling exactly in size and depth a golf-hole with basket-work sides, within four or five inches of the plant. Taking now the thorny ring he places it on the hole, which it should exactly cap. H e now powders up some camel-dung and |
