Torrid Heat 139 



somewhat resembles a mass of seaweed mixed with 

 twisted branches and cinders. 



The heat is fiercer on this blackened ground 

 deprived of shade ; but, on the other hand, how much 

 more is the hunter at ease upon it, and how much 

 better his eye can see the smallest objects ! If, for 

 the same reason, it is more difficult to approach 

 animals, there are cunning methods of hiding one- 

 self, whereas there is no way of avoiding being heard 

 in the dry grass. 



The reader now being acquainted with the changes 

 which have come over the country, I resume hunting. 



At the end of August most of the rivers are low 

 or dried up, but water is still sufficiently abundant in 

 the country to permit animals to change their drink- 

 ing places often. One must, therefore, be in the 

 neighbourhood of these drinking places and give 

 oneself much trouble in killing one or two heads of 

 game a day, the heat and the total absence of shade 

 making sport especially fatiguing. On the other 

 hand, in October, after two months of torrid heat 

 the number of drinking places is considerably 

 diminished and often reduced to one or two for 

 every six square miles. It is then useless to disturb 

 yourself; you can lie in watch, and shoot near these 

 pools during the day and night all the animals of the 

 district which are obliged to come there to drink. 



It is during the dry season that Bertrand and I 

 have prepared each year the largest number of 

 mammals for the Paris Museum. Abundance of 

 animals allowed of selecting only fine specimens, and 



