With I-ki^hli;<ht and Rifle c^ 



among mammals only a few baboons and long-tailed 

 monkeys, besides the big herds of waterbuck. The 

 apes had once found a bridge to the island in a gigantic 

 tree which had fallen across the stream, l)ut soon the 

 rush of the flowing water at the Masika time had broken 

 this temporary bridge, and thus they were cut oft Irom 

 the mainland. The waterbuck had crossed at shallow 

 and narrow sj)ots. Waterbuck and buffaloes have no fear 

 of the numerous crocodiles, always managing to give them 

 a wide berth. This fact was very interesting to me. No 

 other wild animal that I know of, with the exception of 

 the hippopotamus, eludes the crocodile in the same way. 

 I could find no trace of the reedbuck, which I had 

 expected to see on the island, although they were often 

 on the mainland close by. I presume from this that they 

 were not so clever as the above-mentioned animals in 

 escaping the jaws of the crocodiles. 



During nearly the whole of the day, but more especially 

 at nio-ht time, the voices of the hippopotamuses resounded 

 from the marshes, intermingling with the numberless cries 

 of the birds. Save for this, there was silence. 



All along the bank of the river I found that the island 

 was very well guarded against intruders. Everywhere I 

 could see the pointed snouts of gigantic crocodiles 

 jjopping up out of the water and slowl\- mo\ing with 

 ihc. stream. Mere in a deep part of the ri\-er a more 

 than usually large collection of them was assembled. As 

 they api)ri)ached most cautiously diat part ot the river- 

 bed where long stretches of' sand bank glistened in the 

 sunshine. I found dozens of these iinnu;nse creatures 



286 



