THE RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO 457 



Its current swirled in long curves between endless ranks of 

 plumed papyrus. White and blue and red, the floating 

 water-lilies covered the lagoons and the still inlets among 

 the reeds; and here and there the lotus lifted its leaves 

 and flowers stiffly above the surface. The brilliant tropic 

 stars made lanes of light on the lapping water as we ran on 

 through the night. The river horses roared from the reed- 

 beds, and snorted and plunged beside the boat, and croco- 

 diles slipped sullenly into the river as we glided by. Tow- 

 ard morning a mist arose and through it the crescent of 

 the dying moon shone red and lurid. Then the sun flamed 

 aloft and soon the African landscape, vast, lonely, mysteri- 

 ous, stretched on every side in a shimmering glare of heat 

 and light; and ahead of us the great, strange river went 

 twisting away into the distance. 



At midnight we had stopped at the station of Koba, 

 where we were warmly received by the district commis- 

 sioner, and where we met half a dozen of the professional 

 elephant hunters, who for the most part make their money, 

 at hazard of their lives, by poaching ivory in the Congo. 

 They are a hard-bit set, these elephant poachers; there 

 are few careers more adventurous, or fraught with more 

 peril, or which make heavier demands upon the daring, the 

 endurance, and the physical hardihood of those who fol- 

 low them. Elephant hunters face death at every turn, 

 from fever, from the assaults of warlike native tribes, from 

 their conflicts with their giant quarry; and the unending 

 strain on their health and strength is tremendous. 



At noon the following day we stopped at the deserted 

 station of Wadelai, still in British territory. There have 

 been outposts of white mastery on the Upper Nile for many 

 years, but some of them are now abandoned, for as yet 

 there has been no successful attempt at such develop- 

 ment of the region as would alone mean permanency of 

 occupation. The natives whom we saw offered a sharp 

 contrast to those of Uganda; we were again back among 

 wild savages. Near the landing at Wadelai was a group of 



