triarch. He insisted on the travellers
accompanying him to his camp, and would hear of no excuses. Ordering
Mahomet to have their baggage repacked, he requested them to mount two
superb _hygeens_ with saddle-cloths of blue and purple sheep-skins, and
they set out with their venerable host, followed by his wild and
splendidly-mounted attendants.

As they approached the camp they were suddenly met by a crowd of mounted
men, armed with swords and shields, some on horses, others on _hygeens_.
These were Abou Sinn's people, who had assembled to do honour to their
chief's guests. Having formed in lines parallel with the approach of
their guests, they galloped singly at full speed across the line of
march, flourishing their swords over their heads, and reining in their
horses so as to bring them on their haunches by the sudden halt. This
performance being concluded, they fell into line behind the party.

Declining the sheikh's invitation to spend two or three months at his
camp, Mr and Mrs Baker travelled on to the village of Sofi, where they
proposed remaining during the rainy season.

It was situated near the banks of the Atbara, on a plateau of about
twenty acres, bordered on either side by two deep ravines, while below
the steep cliff in front of the village flowed the river Atbara.

Their tents were pitched on a level piece of ground just outside the
village, where the grass, closely nibbled by the goats, formed a natural
lawn.

Here huts were built and some weeks were pleasantly spent. Mr Baker
found an abundance of sport, sometimes catching enormous fish, at others
shooting birds to supply his larder, but more frequently hunting
elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, and other large game.

He here found a German named Florian, a stone-mason by trade, who had
come out attached to the Austrian mission at Khartoum, but preferring a
freer life than that city afforded, had become a great hunter. Mr
Baker, thinking that he would prove useful, engaged him as a hunter, and
he afterwards took into his service Florian's black servant Richarn, who
became his faithful attendant. A former companion of Florian's, Johann
Schmidt, soon afterwards arrived, and was also engaged by Mr Baker to
act as his lieutenant in his proposed White Nile expedition. Poor
Florian, however, was killed by a lion, and Schmidt and Richarn alone
accompanied him.

Mr Baker's skill as a sportsman was frequently called into play by the
natives, to dr