During my
morning stroll I met hundreds of natives running excitedly with shields
and spears towards Adda's village: they were going to steal the cattle
from a village about four miles distant; thus there will be a fight in
the course of the day. The Latooka stream is now full, and has the
appearance of a permanent river carrying a considerable body of water to
the Sobat.
I met with two thieves while duck-shooting this morning--the one an
eagle, and the other a native. The beautiful white-throated fish-eagle
may generally be seen perched upon a bough overhanging the stream, ready
for any prey that may offer. This morning I shot two ducks right and
left as they flew down the course of the river---one fell dead in the
water, but the other, badly hit, fluttered along the surface for some
distance, and was immediately chased and seized by a fish-eagle which,
quite reckless of the gun, had been watching the sport from a high tree,
and evinced a desire to share the results. My men, not to be done out of
their breakfast, gave chase, shouting and yelling to frighten the eagle,
and one of them having a gun loaded with buckshot, fired, and the
whirr-r of the charge induced the eagle to drop the duck, which was
triumphantly seized by the man.
The other thief was a native. I fired a long shot at a drake; the bird
flew a considerable distance and towered, falling about a quarter of a
mile distant.
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