THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 215 



Since this is so, I can see no reason why news cannot be 

 passed along from field to field, cover to cover, village 

 to village, simply as a matter of ordinary conversation. 

 The fact that the conversation is carried on at a range 

 of several hundred yards instead of a few feet has noth- 

 ing to do with the matter. The possibility of this 

 hypothesis is aided by the further fact that the Afri- 

 can has no fixed sleeping hours. Somebody is always 

 awake and talking, just as somebody is always sleeping. 

 If it strikes the native as a good idea to sit by a fire, 

 cook up a little something, and talk, he does so whether 

 the hour is 2 A. M. or 2 p. m. And it must be remembered 

 that in this country every little incident to do with so 

 strange a creature as a white man is a prime bit of 

 news. 



In this way — or some other — Cuninghame knew I 

 was sick, and was told just my symptoms and what I 

 was doing for myself. His first thought was of the 

 deadly blackwater fever — that hits the back. So he 

 hastened to return. 



His report was about the usual African thing. The 

 elephants dwelt in a huge papyrus swamp where they 

 were absolutely inaccessible. They came out once a 

 year. Then, provided you could bribe several villages 

 of the Wirigi to take to the hills and keep away, you 

 got one shot. Then all the elephants went back into 

 the papyrus swamp ! The country north of the Mara 

 is full of sleeping sickness, and therefore out of the 



