34 After Big Game in Central Africa 



Nyassa, two years later, there was taken from the 

 stomach of a gigantic crocodile over six yards long, 

 an assortment of twenty-four copper bracelets and a 

 large ball of frizzy hair, which the horrid beast had 

 been unable to digest after having devoured the 

 native lady to whom these objects belonged. 1 



The reader must think that here at last are les 

 horreurs qui commencent, as a well-known song ex- 

 presses it. Alas ! I regret it, but that is all that I 

 have to say about Chiromo, and the rest of our stay 

 in those regions is so devoid of interest from the point 

 of view of sport, that we shall pass without further 

 transition to February of the following year, 1895, 

 270 miles from the Shire, into the midst of a savage 

 country abounding in big game. 



Like spectators at the theatre, the reader is now 

 transported without fatigue to quite a different scene. 2 

 Instead of Chiromo, scorched by the sun, its trees 

 leafless and twisted by dryness, we are here in the 

 midst of abundant foliation, in the midst of an en- 

 chanting scene. Eain has not ceased falling for three 

 months ; the fresh grass is already two feet high ; the 

 trees are loaded, some with leaves and others with 

 wild fruits ; the birds sing gaily ; the sky is clear 

 between the showers in a word, it is summer. This 

 is the best season for elephants and buffaloes ; the 

 worst for lions, that at which they are to be feared 



1 For the habits, description, and hunting of the crocodile, see Mes 

 Grandes Chasses, pp. 70, 75, 234, 235. Contrary to what I believed 

 formerly, what I have seen in the great lakes has shown me that the 

 maximum length may extend to twenty-three feet. 



2 The expedition was then on the Upper Kapoche (eastern Maravi). 



