but hartebeest, zebra, giraffe, eland, and buffalo this day!  After following the Gombe’s course for about a mile, delighting my eyes with long looks at the broad and lengthy reaches of water to which I was so long a stranger, I came upon a scene which delighted the innermost recesses of my soul; five, six, seven, eight, ten zebras switching their beautiful striped bodies, and biting one another, within about one hundred and fifty yards.  The scene was so pretty, so romantic, never did I so thoroughly realize that I was in Central Africa.  I felt momentarily proud that I owned such a vast domain, inhabited with such noble beasts.  Here I possessed, within reach of a leaden ball, any one I chose of the beautiful animals, the pride of the African forests!  It was at my option to shoot any of them!  Mine they were without money or without price; yet, knowing this, twice I dropped my rifle, loth to wound the royal beasts, but—­crack! and a royal one was on his back battling the air with his legs.  Ah, it was such a pity! but, hasten, draw the keen sharp-edged knife across the beautiful stripes which fold around the throat; and—­what an ugly gash! it is done, and 1 have a superb animal at my feet.  Hurrah!  I shall taste of Ukonongo zebra to-night.

I thought a spring-bok and zebra enough for one day’s sport, especially after a long march.  The Gombe, a long stretch of deep water, winding in and out of green groves, calm, placid, with lotus leaves lightly resting on its:  surface, all pretty, picturesque, peaceful as a summer’s dream, looked very inviting for a bath.  I sought out the most shady spot under a wide-spreading mimosa, from which the ground sloped smooth as a lawn, to the still, clear water.  I ventured to undress, and had already stepped in to my ancles in the water, and had brought my hands together for a glorious dive, when my attention was attracted by an enormously long body which shot into view, occupying the spot beneath the surface that I was about to explore by a “header.”  Great heavens, it was a crocodile!  I sprang backward instinctively, and this proved my salvation, for the monster turned away with the most disappointed look, and I was left to congratulate myself upon my narrow escape from his jaws, and to register a vow never to be tempted again by the treacherous calm of an African river.

As soon as I had dressed I turned away from the now repulsive aspect of the stream.  In strolling through the jungle, towards my camp, I detected the forms of two natives looking sharply about them, and, after bidding my young attendants to preserve perfect quiet, I crept on towards them, and, by the aid of a thick clump of underbush, managed to arrive within a few feet of the natives undetected.  Their mere presence in the immense forest, unexplained, was a cause of uneasiness in the then disturbed state of the country, and my intention was to show myself suddenly to them, and note its effect, which, if it betokened anything hostile to the Expedition, could without difficulty be settled at once, with the aid of my double-barrelled smooth-bore.