380 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



heard them crashing through the underwood at 

 different times. Every now and then huge alU- 

 gators would raise up their hideous heads and 

 flounder into the water as we passed near the 

 banks where they were sunning themselves, but we 

 would not waste our ammunition upon them ; be- 

 sides, we were afraid that the report of our rifles 

 might scare away elephant which were known to 

 be in the neighbourhod. The day before we 

 arrived, a mighty bull, with immense -tusks, and 

 seven females, had been seen early in the morning 

 close to the lagoon near Walker's Factory, but the 

 manager was down with fever and the natives dare 

 not meddle with them. We pulled for some dis- 

 tance up the creek leading to the Camaroons, but 

 saw nothing except a few monkeys, an iguana, and 

 a couple of gigantic toucans, so we returned to the 

 factory for dinner. In the evening Walker, 

 Knight, and myself, crossed King Passall's River, 

 and strolled along the beach, or rather a strip of 

 sand between the sea and a narrow lagoon which 

 ran parallel to it. I tried to make my way through 

 the mangrove bush, inland, and whilst I was so 



