-^ Night-Shoots 



already espied us, and vanish in a second. Doves, 

 which have come in crowds to roost over the water, 

 flutter ceaselessly here and there, seeking- suitable covert 

 in the thorny branches. Now resounds the cry of a little 

 pearl screech-owl ; its cadence, almost exactly following 

 the scale, rings out clearly over the now moonlit 

 landscape. 



Unfortunately the moon is not at the full. Never- 

 theless, it lights up the surroundings, in the clear tropical 

 atmosphere, in a way that would only be possible for 

 the full moon in our home latitudes. The uncertain 

 glimmer of a moonlight night dances amid the trees and 

 branches ; nocturnal insects hum around ; the leaves and 

 dry wood rustle everywhere. There breaks out over 

 our heads the laughter of a family of galagos [Ofo/eniur 

 CJ'assicaiidafits) suddenly awakened. The tops of a 

 little cluster ot trees make an abode for these lemurs 

 tor many weeks at a time, and their extraordinary 

 screamincT resounds the whole nisfht through. 



So time goes by and we wait in strained attention. 

 The big ox, which is tied up quite close to us, has now 

 grown accustomed to its environment ; it begins to munch 

 the grass thrown near it, evidently reassured by our 

 proximity. At first it tried several times, with much 

 snorting, to get free. If it had succeeded in this it would 

 have made a bee-line for the camp (which is not far 

 off) and its conirades left behind there ; but instinctive 

 sagacity causes it to suppress any lowing and calling 

 to them. 



An hour has Q-one bv. At the water a herd of ante- 



631 



