WHITE RHINOCEROSES 319 



it is only with the understanding that under no circum- 

 stances will any of the beasts be harmed. Having 

 assured them on this score, I was allowed to take my 

 party out in search of the animal, in order that photo- 

 graphs might be obtained. 



Forty-two miles by road brought us again to the 

 Nile, and there we camped close to its shore. That 

 night it rained like the flood, a real tropical storm, 

 with huge flashes of Hghtning and deafening peals of 

 thunder, the crashes of which roHed across the heavens 

 with such tremendous roaring that the earth itself 

 trembled. 



Next morning pishi held up a glass of drinking water, 

 alive with all sorts of grotesque creatures, for my in- 

 spection. I had been warned to insist upon the boil- 

 ing of aU water as a precaution against guinea worm 

 and other parasites, but an interesting fact about the 

 African cook is that he cannot be taught to boil 

 water for drinking purposes. To him there is abso- 

 lutely no sense in doing such a thing, but if you tell 

 him to make tea, he boils the water thoroughly, be- 

 cause he knows that good tea cannot be made other- 

 wise. For that reason, we never drank water in 

 dangerous locahties, consuming, instead, gaUons and 

 gallons of tea. 



After breakfast, I went down to the river's edge to 

 gaze upon the huge papyrus swamp that stretches from 

 the opposite side to the distant horizon, a swa^p that 

 teems with poisonous reptiles and aU that order of 

 things that love the dark and the damp. Pythons of 

 enormous size make this their home, but cross the 

 river in search of smaU game. Hippos dwell on the 

 edge, and many buffalo Hve not far away. 



