OUR BACKYARD CIRCUS 115 



While this snake interlude was going on we made 

 so much noise that we waked up the herd. The first 

 thing we knew twenty or thirty of the big animals 

 were screaming and snorting around us, crashing over 

 trees, banging into one another, and creating 

 a general pandemonium. Luckily for us they 

 decided to run away. Two minutes later they had 

 disappeared. Once more the jungle silence had 

 descended. Even the cobra vanished. 



This is one of the thrills of our work. It is never 

 possible to tell whether the death with which we are 

 surrounded in many forms is going to descend upon 

 us or going to evaporate. Whichever happens it 

 usually happens quickly and without much warning. 



We found the trees full of baboons on our way 

 home. I could not photograph them on account of 

 the places they rested, always under a shady branch. 

 Anyway they seemed pretty insignificant after 

 elephants. They were all chattering and squabbling 

 with each other, which meant they were happy and 

 undisturbed. 



After supper Osa and I strolled a few hundred feet 

 from camp into the forest. The trees went way 

 up into the skies, so high that the stars seem to nestle 

 in their topmost branches. Every tree was straight 

 as an arrow, with not a limb until almost at the top. 



We walked along back to camp slowly without 

 speaking. We were still thinking about the 



