144 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
Stanley Pool. J camped out rather late this evening, and 
fortunately hit upon a very pleasant spot in which to pass 
the night—a little clearing surrounded by the forest, with 
a pellucid stream of water running on one side of it to the 
Congo. Not a mosquito was to be seen. Thank Heaven! 
I dined comfortably and afterwards took a little walk 
along the river-shore by moonlight. The hippopotami, 
though not visible, were snorting loudly, the fishing-eagles 
were screaming at something that displeased them; goat- 
suckers and other night-birds were uttering their plaintive 
cries, and every now and then there was the sound of 
a splash and a swish in the water as some big crocodile 
had slid off the bank, startled at the crunching of my 
footsteps on the sandy beach. 
Feb, 24th.—A delicious, dreamless night. Why shouid 
there be no mosquitoes here, and such incredible myriads 
a few miles lower down? ‘The surroundings are apparently 
the same. The morning breaks lovely, and the day 
promises to pass without rain. We stopped about eleven 
o’clock to do some necessary washing and cooking. The 
spot chosen was a long stretch of sand, backed by thick | 
forest. On the moist, smooth shore were hundreds of 
butterflies, many of most beautiful colours, azure blue and 
brilliant leaf-green. They collected in numbers round 
little patches of calcareous earth, where, in common with 
many bees, wasps, and dragon-flies, they seemed to find 
something so attractive that they never even moved at our 
approach, and one could catch them tranquilly by the 
thorax and pinch their fe away before they could collect 
their airy faculties. The forest rising above the sand-— 
bank was intersected with paths made by the buffaloes | 
coming down to drink; and farther towards the interior 
was an open space trampled with their footmarks, the 
whole place having a strangely farm-yard look and smell. 
In the forest were many cnestis bushes with bright scarlet. 
seed-vessels, and others with orange pods, so that the 
masses of green leaves were quite enlivened by these — 
points of colour. We met some canoes this afternoon 
going down to Stanley Pool, filled with ivory, but with 
