218 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



this one school of hippopotami and a few 

 hundred springbuck survive. I could hardly 

 hope to find the sea-cows — at all events while 

 daylight lasted; it would suffice if at night I 

 might listen to their snorting and blowing — 

 to the rustling in the reed-brakes as the huge 

 creatures emerged from the water in search of 

 food. These sounds would bring back 

 memories of days long past — of adventures in 

 other pastures of South Africa's rich and 

 varied wonderland. 



Before the sun had set we camped in a 

 sandy hollow, a few hundred yards from the 

 river's bank. There were no rocks in the im- 

 mediate vicinity so we hoped to escape the 

 usual plague of tarantulas. After a long, 

 luxurious swim in the placid river, I returned 

 to examine the collections of Flora and Fauna. 

 The latter had been permitted to wander afield 

 that day. The number of centipedes, scor- 

 pions and miscellaneous reptiles which had 

 been soused in the poisoned spirit was so great 

 that I no longer feared her attempting to 

 sample it as a beverage. The harvest was 

 more rich and interesting than usual. Flora 

 had found a gorgeous stapelia with a more 

 than ordinarily atrocious smell, and Fauna 

 had captured a beetle infested with a most 



