THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 259 



aginable, for he is continually giving vent to perfect 

 screams of laughter and joy so like the wild hilarity of 

 the native women that at first I was thus deceived. 

 And when one sees the joke they all see the joke and 

 join in. This wild joyous cry is uttered on the wing or 

 sitting. When the Vocifer happens to be in a tree, he 

 throws his head back just as a person would do when 

 laughing heartily. As the joke gets funnier his head 

 gets farther back until it fairly lies between his shoulders 

 with the open beak pointing straight up. 



Morning, 71; noon, 90; night (?). 



October 11. — Great difficulty to get firewood. We 

 buy little bunches of it from the native women. Natu- 

 rally there are no more evening campfires. In the early 

 morning and late evening great flocks of the sacred 

 ibis pass going to or coming from their feeding grounds. 

 We spent the day reading up in the Literary Digest^ and 

 in writing letters. 



Morning, 68; noon, 96; night, 75. 



October 12. — To-day a boat was expected — though at 

 what hour was unknown. At seven o 'clock we packed 

 up, as per instructions, and went down to the customs 

 house. There we sat in the shade until 4 130. That is 

 usual in Africa. A native in a dugout canoe fished just 

 off the edge of the reeds for the same length of time, and 

 apparently without catching anything; so we had no 

 monopoly on the stock of patience. 



At 4:30 the steamer came in and anchored. A small 



