-* Buffaloes and Crocodiles 



sunning themselves. Near them numbers of Egyptian 

 geese and other marsh-birds had arranged themselves on 

 the sand-banks. They were wise enough to stay near 

 the shallow parts of the river, and did not go close, to 

 those deeper portions where the crocodiles are wont to make 

 their sudden attacks. Though, for that matter, I am 

 inclined to believe a certain degree of friendliness exists 



THE RUFU RIVER 



between the crocodiles and the birds. In the Sudan we 

 know that a small kind of plover lives in close harmony 

 with the great animal ; but the sagacious ducks and geese 

 one never sees swimming about in the deep waters fre- 

 quented by crocodiles. 



Several days passed in a fruitless search after buffaloes. 

 In order to find out their haunts, I dived into the marshy 

 swamps by means of the almost impenetrable tunnel-like 



287 



