890 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



unholy laughter. We could not blame them ; 

 the joke was certainly on us. 



In passing, the cachinnations of the laughing 

 hyena are rather a series of high-voiced self- 

 conscious titters than laughter. They sound 

 like the stage idea of a lot of silly and rather 

 embarrassed old maids who have been accused 

 by some rude man of " taking notice." This 

 call is rarely used ; indeed, I never heard it 

 but the once. The usual note is a sort of moan- 

 ing howl, impossible to describe, but easy to 

 recognize. 



Thus we penetrated gradually deeper and 

 deeper into this wild country ; through low 

 mountains, over bush- clad plains, into thorn 

 jungles, down wide valleys, over hill-divided 

 plateaus. Late in the afternoon we would make 

 camp. Sometimes we had good water ; more 

 often not. In the evening the throb of distant 

 drums and snatches of intermittent wailing song 

 rose and fell with the little night breezes. 



