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Show 474 SIR E. G. LODER ON THE " REEM" ANTELOPE. [June 5, saw several small herds of Gazella dorcas, but no tracks even of any other Gazelle. W e did not seem to be any nearer to obtaining a Beem than when we started from Biskra. At night, when we got back to camp, we were told that a negro camel-herd had been there during the day, and bad said that we were not at all in the right country for Beem, that he was well acquainted with the animal and knew where it was to be found. H e came into camp again the next morning and told us that the Beem had long slender hoofs and tender feet, lived only in the soft sand, and would be unable to run on hard stony desert such as that round Hamraia. He said he could take us to the Beem country, in rolling sand-hills, but we should not be able to camp very near as there was no water for our horses and pack-animals. W e agreed to go with him, and he led us a day's march still farther south towards the Oued Souf, and then turned off the caravan-track to the east and chose a camp in the sand about an hour and a half from water. (Almost all the water in the desert is brackish and bad, but the water we got here was positively nasty.) The next morning we left camp very early on horseback, with the negro on foot and an Arab hunter riding a mule. The negro led the way at a tremendous pace, keeping up a good trot in the soft sand and sometimes running fast for a couple of miles without a stop across the dry arm of a chott, keeping us at a hand-gallop most of the time. After two hours and a half the negro pointed out the first track of the Beem, which is quite easily to be distinguished from that of Gazella dorcas from its much greater length. W e now unsaddled the horses, tied them up, and went off in two parties to hunt for Beem. The negro led the way in front of me, going slowly and with great caution, as the Beem is extremely wary and against the nearly white sand can detect a moving object a long way off. We had not walked very far when we saw the head of a Beem looking over the top of a sand-ridge at about 300 yards distance. We stayed for a long time perfectly still behind a tuft of tall alpha grass, till at last the head disappeared. As soon as it was out of sight we ran as hard as we could across the bare sand to the top of the next ridge, and again sheltered ourselves behind a tuft of alpha. When we looked out cautiously we saw that the Beem had moved on to another sand-hill more to our left, and was again showing just the top of his head over it. W e had, however, considerably reduced the distance. Again he stopped perfectly still for a long time and then turned and moved off. W e ran to another ridge, and I caught sight of him trotting to the top of the sand-hill beyond at about 150 yards. At the top he turned and I fired at once and got him. A lucky shot! as the distance was long for so small an animal. It was a good male, with horns 13 inches lono-. I have not seen any much longer than these. After taking the Beem back to the place where we had left the horses, we started off again, and during the clay saw several small |