With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



paths trodden by the .hippopotamuses. However, I soon 

 returned with lacerated hands, and horribly bitten by 

 mosquitoes, with the conviction that the beasts had no 

 certain resting-place, and that they forsook the marsh 

 at night to return thither at dawn of day. Neither on 

 the marshes could I find trace of them. With much 

 trouble I climbed several very tall acacia-trees that grew 

 on sundry dry spots. Thence I could get a better point 

 of view, and was able to make out the places where the 

 buffaloes were lying. Hundreds of egrets swarmed above 

 them. They served to draw attention to the buffaloes, 

 to which they attach themselves always, and which they 

 free from vermin without disturbing them. The region 

 swarmed with vermin. 



Knowing the extraordinary timidity of the buffalo, 

 I had given strict instructions to my people to remain 

 within the camp. Wood for burning had to be fetched 

 only from quite close at hand, and no one went farther 

 than the path which connected us with the mainland. 



Our grain was sent by this path from my chief 

 camp. The place of encampment itself was carefully 

 cleared of grass and bushes, a needful precaution. 

 Countless millions ot tiny ticks {Rhipicephalus sanguineus 

 and R. appendiculatus, as well as R. pulchellus] covered 

 the grass and bushes of the island just where the water- 

 buck were usually to be seen, and especially at the 

 haunts and feeding-places of the buffaloes. It was im- 

 possible to pass through the island without immediately 

 being covered by hundreds of these ticks. 



On returning to the camp my natives used to remove 



288 



