THE WATERBUCK 133 



anchored for many days, investigating the life-history 

 and specific values of certain tiny aquatic warblers. A 

 few hundred yards inland grew a straggled clump of trees, 

 islanded amidst deep swamp and known to us as " Lion- 

 wood," since each evening a lion treated us to an African 

 oratorio in B Major. Yet each dawn and dusk a single 

 waterbuck bull emerged from its recesses. That small 

 wood, in fact, was daily occupied by Lynes, a lion, and a 

 waterbuck ; yet neither sought the other's undoing. 



The last-named of the trio was a frequent source of 

 interest to me. His pasturage was a mere strip of a few 

 acres, and his only access to sweet water lay exactly 

 opposite to our ship ; he would not drink of the mephitic 

 swamp, nor trust himself on the bog. Still less dare he 

 approach Candace. Night after night he kept coming 

 nearer, but fear for long carried the day and he never 

 got his "sun-downer." At length thirst and confidence 

 prevailed. On the fifth evening he came boldly down 

 and drank within 100 yards of the ship. 



These pestilent morasses, it goes without saying, 

 abound with mosquitoes in millions and with every class 

 of flying terror. The wild beasts suffer therefrom as we 

 do, and in similarly varying degree. Some prove immune, 

 others not. Thus against me personally the mosquito 

 and the flea prevail not. Were a " flea-biscite " available, 

 I fancy those insects would exclude me from Africa 

 (though the bloodthirsty seroot is my daily, hourly 

 dread). Of the wild beasts, the waterbuck, while grazing 

 round the swamps at dusk is, of all animals, the 

 most terribly tormented. One sees his sufferings and 

 sympathises. Perpetually he must cease grazing to 

 shake his head, to scratch his neck with hind hoof, or 

 hind quarters with horn. Never does he enjoy a whole 

 minute's peace, nor half one, unmolested. Yet the white- 

 eared cob and reedbuck, though often in sight at the 

 same moment, are not plagued in anything like the same 

 degree. True, the latter two hold the drier, firmer ground 



