THE NIGER AND BENUE 5 



dug-outs beneath large-brimmed straw hats that serve 

 to shelter them from rain and sun. The children 

 spend hours in the water, and swim about in com- 

 plete indifference to peril from hungry crocodiles. 



With so much to watch, the deck was an attractive 

 place, but it was barely warm enough to sit out 

 without coats, for the sky was often overcast, and 

 it rained a good deal in a determined Britannic 

 fashion. Whether it did or not we seized the 

 opportunity of going ashore whenever the Sultan 

 stopped for mails or firewood, as we were keen to 

 see everything, and also to start our natural history 

 collections. The very first time we landed a black 

 mamba wrio-gled out from between Mrs Talbot's feet 

 as she walked, and a centipede was pointed out to 

 me. Henceforth we adopted the precaution of wear- 

 ing long boots, which are invaluable for protection 

 against mosquitos as well as snakes. 



Mr Talbot is a member of the Linnsean Society, 

 but his. wife, who is also an experienced botanist, 

 undertook the flower collection. It gave her a lot 

 of work, as it is, of course, necessary to change the 

 paper in which the specimens are dried, and as 

 their number amounted to many hundreds the task 

 was no light one. She also made detailed draw^ings 

 of those that had any special interest. 



Mr Talbot, who is both a Fellow of the Zoological 

 and Anthropological Societies, was fully occupied with 

 birds, beasts, and insects ; and I was deputed to 

 collect grasses, an easy but somewhat unrewarding 

 task, for their distribution is so wide that those of 

 commonest growth in Africa are also of commonest 

 growth in England. We were all three keen on 



