38 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
eating in such big mouthfuls that it would have made 
you laugh to see them. 
As for me, as I said, I went to sleep, and my men the 
next morning said ies I made a terrible noise snoring. 
I denied it and said I never snored, but they said I did. 
But after all, you know, I had no pillow, and I-should 
not wonder if I did snore a little. 
Next morning the sun rose brightly, the air was some- 
what chilly, the breeze was fresh. I was happy, I re- 
member. ‘These were bright days for me: I was with- 
out care, and for some time the fever had left me. I 
was in good health andspirits. 
After an early breakfast I started for the hunt. I 
had with me my best gun; the slave that followed me 
had another gun; this one was loaded with bullets; I 
had my dinner with me, and that dinner was a piece of 
the bull I had killed the day before which had been 
roasted on charcoal. I intended to dine on the banks 
of some little rivulet so that I might have water to drink 
during my meal. I would have no plate except a leaf; 
the trunk of a fallen tree was to be my seat, and my 
knees were to be my table. 
With a light step I left our camp. My. spirits were 
buoyant; discoveries of new animals, of new birds, of 
new countries loomed up in the distance. How much 
I would have to tell my friends on my return from 
that strange and wild land I had come to see, if God 
granted me life and health! 
We went through prairies, swamps, oa forest. At 
last we came to a spot where once a plantation stood ; it 
was intersected by several little brooks of clear water. 
My man shouted, ‘‘ Omemba ompolo!” (a large snake), and 
