Part 5 (1/2)
But in Equatorial Africa the sihtnesses that ive way in interest to the other world of sound The air hule are populous with voices furtive or bold In daytiht does he sense the al life about him The darkness is peopled Zebra bark, bucks blow or snort or make the weird noises of their respective species; hyenas howl; out of an iroup of s; ostriches utter their deep hollow boos scurry and squeak; a certain weird bird of the curlew or plover sort wails like a lonesos of the weirdest of weird bullfrogs, and the splashi+ngs and swishi+ngs of crocodile and hippopotamus One is i him; every bird or beast, the hunter and the hunted, is the centre of many important affairs The world swarms
And then, so to the sheer power of the sound The world falls to a blank dead silence
For a full le or of the veldt holds its breath Their lord has spoken
After dinner we sat in our canvas chairs, suard fire in front of our tent had been lit On the other side of it stood one of our askaris leaning on his musket He and his three coainst the fiercer creatures
After a tirew sleepy I called Saa-sita and entrusted to him my watch On the crystal of this I had pasted a seon's plaster When the hour hand reached the surgeon's plaster, he must wake us up Saa-sita was a very conscientious and carefulmy pedometer properly to his belt: I could not wear it effectively myself because I was on horseback At the end of the ten-hour istered a mile and a fraction Saa-sita explained that he wished to take especial care of it, so he had wrapped it in a cloth and carried it all day in his hand!
We turned in As I reached over to extinguish the lantern I issued my last command for the day
”Watcha kalele, Saa-sita,” I told the askari; at once he lifted up his voice to repeat my words ”Watcha kalele!” Immediately frounbearers, froa, from tent boys-”kalele! kalele! kalele!”
Thus coently rising and falling tide ofof the fire and the innuht
VIII THE RIVER JUNGLE
We ca indefinitely and happily around the country in all directions to see e could see
Generally ent together, for neither B nor ame-those easy rhinos hardly counted-and I think we both preferred to feel that we had backing until we knehat our nerves were going to do with us Nevertheless, occasionally, I would take Meo out for a little purposeless stroll a few le, sometimes we held as near as possible to the river's bank, so scrub over the low volcanic hills of the arid country outside
Nothing can equal the intense interest of the most ordinary walk in Africa It is the only country I knohere ahorseback with the dogs in my California home I have watched them in envy of the keen, alert interest they took in every stone, stick, and bush, in every sight, sound, and smell With equal frequency I have expressed that envy, but as somatic make-up In Africa one actually rises to continuous alertness There are dozy moments-except you curl up in a safe place for the PURPOSE of dozing; again just like the dog! Every bush, every hollow, every high tuft of grass, every deep shadow er It will not do to pass carelessly any possible lurking place At the sauard; so that no break of twig or crash of bough can go unremarked Rhinoceroses conceal the from a nap into their swiftest stride Cobras and puff adders are scarce, to be sure, but very deadly Lions will generally give way, if not shot at or too closely pressed; nevertheless there is always the chance of cubs or too close a surprise Buffalo lurk daytiue bull lives where your trail will lead These things do not happen often, but in the long run they surely do happen, and once is quite enough provided the beast gets in
At first this continual alertness and tension is rather exhausting; but after a very short time it becomes second nature A sudden rustle the other side a bush no longer brings you up all standing with your heart in your throat; but you are aware of it, and you are facing the possible danger almost before your slower brain has issued any orders to that effect
In rereading the above, I a the idea that one here walks under the shadow of continual uneasiness This is not in the least so One enjoys the sun, and the birds and the little things
He cultivates the great leisure of mind that shall fill the breadth of his outlook abroad over a neonderful world But underneath it all is the alertness, the responsiveness to quick reflexes of judgment and action, the intimate correlations to immediate environher anie of that river jungle werethe high clumps of the thicker bushes in such aaround unexpected bends Of such raceful red impalla were here very abundant I would co forward, their noses twitching in inquiry of sohtly alarmed or suspicious the does always stood compactly in a herd, while the bucks reround, their beautiful, branching, widespread horns showing over the backs of their harems The iraceful of the African bucks, a perpetual delight to watch either standing or running These beasts are extraordinarily agile, and have a habit of breaking their ordinary fast run by unexpectedly leaping high in the air At a distance they give soher and more nearly perpendicular Once or twice I have even seen one jump over the back of another On another occasiona herd of twenty-five or thirty cross a road of which, evidently, they were a little suspicious
We could not find a single hoof mark in the dust! Generally these beasts frequent thin brush country; but I have three or four ti with the hartebeeste and zebra They are about the size of our ordinary deer, are delicately fashi+oned, and can utter the rotesque of noises by way of calls or ordinary conversation
The lack of curiosity, or the lack of gallantry, of the impalla bucks was, in my experience, quite characteristic They were alround and the first ahen danger threatened
The ladies could look out for themselves They had no horns to save; and what do the fool wo so little sense, anyway! They deserve what they get! It used to amuse me a lot to observe the utter abandonentleirls! They trailed along after as fast as they could
The waterbuck-a fine large beast about the size of our caribou, a well-conditioned buck reses-on the other hand, had a littleto do with the sex at all He was hardly what you h a country for several days at a tile h there were plenty of does, in herds of ten to fifty, with a few infants arassy valley, I would come on the Men's Club There they were, ten, twenty, three dozen of the the finest kind of an untramelled masculine time all by themselves
Generally, however, I will say for them, they took care of their own peoples There would quite likely be one big old fellow, his hareer subordinate bucks all together in a happy fa was about, and they had all lined up to stare in the suspected direction, the big buck was there in the foreground of inquiry When finally they nal He went first, to be sure, but his going first was evidently an act of leadershi+p, and not et away before the rest did
But the waterbuck had to yield in turn to the plains gazelles; especially to the Thoazelle, familiarly-and affectionately-known as the ”To only a foot and a half tall at the shoulder, fawn colour on top, white beneath, with a black, horizontal stripe on his side, like a chipracefully built When he was firstcharacteristic, like waggling his little tail, he was likely to be er cousin, the Grant's gazelle He has waggled his tail ever since, and so is alazelle, even by the undiscriion is Mohaood care of theer threatens, he is the last to leave the field Here and there he dashes frantically, seeing that the woet off And when the herd tops the hill, To up the rear of the procession I like Toallant, quaint little person, with the air of being quite satisfied with his own solution of this coe of the river jungle dwelt also the dik-dik, the tiniest s are lead pencil size, he stands only about nine inches tall, he weighs from five to ten pounds; and yet he is a perfect little antelope, horns and all I used to see hi quite motionless and all but invisible in the shade of bushes; or leaping suddenly to his feet and scurrying away like rass
His personal opinion of enerally expressed in a loud clear whistle But then nobody in this strange country talks the language you would naturally expect hirunt, ostriches booh, hornbills cry like a stage child, bushbucks sound like a cross between a dog and a squawky toy-and so on There is only one safe rule of the novice in Africa: NEVER BELIEVE A WORD THE JUNGLE AND VELDT PEOPLE TELL YOU
These two-the impalla and the waterbuck-were the principal buck ould see close to the river Occasionally, however, we ca antelope, hite and black faces, roached ht, nearly parallel, rapier horns upward of three feet long A herd of these creatures, the light glea on their weapons, held all at the saiment of bayonets in the sun And there were also the rhinoceroses to be carefully espied and avoided They lay obliterated beneath the shade of bushes, and arose with a hty blow-off of steam Whereupon ithdrew silently, for anted to shoot no more rhinos, unless we had to