154 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



Occasionally we came upon an oasis, where from 

 afar the size of the trees and the brightness of the 

 foliage and grass showed there was water at no great 

 depth. There are two lakes or depressions where it 

 lingers longer than elsewhere. They lie in deserted 

 bush -country, and are frequented by innumerable 

 varieties of birds and beasts, for it is one of the best 

 hunting-grounds in the world. Crowned cranes, egrets, 

 and sacred ibis are always there, and night and morn- 

 ing herds of game come to drink. We often saw the 

 long necks and archaic forms of giraffe. They are timid 

 beasts, and are amongst the most difficult of all wild 

 creatures to approach ; but here we were at close 

 quarters with them. Once as many as ten together, 

 and at another time seven, drank within hail of Mrs 

 Talbot. Bush - buck, gazelle, hartebeeste, and kob 

 were there in numbers, and they were followed by 

 scores of carnivori. To judge by their spoor, rhinoceros 

 were plentiful, and ostrich were also to be found. 

 Sometimes a wild dog would spring across the path, 

 or a tiger-cat stop to gaze a second at our cavalcade 

 before it bounded away — and Mrs Talbot and I both 

 saw a dark-grey animal of the height of a zebra with 

 a black mane. 



Our tents were pitched each night in a circle of fire, 

 and the boys heaped up walls of leaping flame that 

 might well have encircled Briinnhilde. The precaution 

 was a wise one, for leopards and lions roamed round 

 our camp, and once I saw the powerful head of a lion 

 half- concealed in a clump of grass, with its glittering 

 eyes fixed on us, as we filed by at the distance of a 

 few yards. 



On one long waterless march I was tired and con- 



