THE RHINOCEROS OF THE LADO 499 



eggs taken from a crocodile the Doctor had shot; and I 

 was delighted to watch, from our hiding place, the big lizard 

 as he cautiously approached, seized an egg, and then re- 

 tired to cover with his booty. Kermit came on a monitor 

 plundering a crocodile's nest at the top of a steep bank, 

 while, funnily enough, a large crocodile lay asleep at the 

 foot of the bank only a few yards distant. As soon as it 



The monitor lizard robbing a crocodile's nest 

 From a photograph by J. Alden Loring 



saw Kermit the monitor dropped the egg it was carrying, 

 ran up a slanting tree which overhung the river, and 

 dropped into the water like a snake bird. 



There was always something interesting to do or to 

 see at this camp. One Afternoon I spent in the boat. The 

 papyrus along the channel rose like a forest, thirty feet high, 

 the close-growing stems knit together by vines. As we 

 drifted down, the green wall was continually broken by 

 openings, through which side streams from the great river 

 rushed, swirling and winding, down narrow lanes and 

 under low archways, into the dim mysterious heart of 

 the vast reedbeds, where dwelt bird and reptile and water 

 beast. In a shallow bay we came on two hippo cows with 

 their calves, and a dozen crocodiles. I shot one of the 



