THE SALT LAKE AND SEMLIKI VALLEY. 147 



These things only happen when one has no gun 

 and is in a very patient condition. To those who 

 are not, by nature, naturalists, it is a useful hint 

 to remember that if one wishes to observe the 

 habits of any living creature, from a bumble bee 

 to an antelope, the essential is to remain abso- 

 lutely still. The very slightest movement directs 

 the attention of any wild thing to the place, and 

 it at once becomes suspicious. When quite 

 still, they do not in most cases distinguish the 

 difference in colour. It is just as hard for us to 

 see an insect when it is quite quiet, but the 

 slightest movement reveals it if one watches 

 patiently. 



I remember the first time I saw a monkey on 

 Ruwenzori was after I had been trying hard to 

 get a specimen all day, and had in rather a de- 

 pressed mood wandered off by myself to rest under- 

 neath a tree. A monkey leisurely strolled on to a 

 branch not 10 feet above my head, and began per- 

 forming his toilet, while absently regarding the 

 sky. It never saw me till I, in rage, threw a stone 

 at it, when there was the usual flop-crash of the 

 bushes and no monkey. 



Next day I crawled back to my camp and had 

 to take a full day's rest to get back sufficient 

 strength to return to the Salt lake. 



