Counted Twenty-Eight Giraffes On The
Opposite Side Of The River.
"August 17.--I set to work at daybreak to make a raft of bamboo
and inflated skins.
There is a wood called ambatch (Anemone
mirabilis) that is brought down by the river from the upper
country; this is lighter than cork, and I have obtained four
large pieces for my raft. Mahomet has been very saucy to-day; he
has been offensively impertinent for a long time, so this morning
I punched his head.
"August 18.--Launched the raft; it carries four persons safely;
but the current is too strong, and it is therefore unmanageable.
In the afternoon I shot a large crocodile on the other side of
the river (about two hundred yards) with the little Fletcher
rifle, and after struggling for some time upon the steep bank it
rolled into the water.
"The large tamarind trees on the opposite bank are generally full
of the dog-faced baboons (Cynocephalus) in the evening, at their
drinking-hour. I watched a large crocodile creep slyly out of the
water, and lie in waiting among the rocks at the usual
drinking-place before they arrived, but the baboons were too wide
awake to be taken in so easily. A young fellow was the first to
discover the enemy; he had accompanied several wise and
experienced old hands, to the extremity of the bough that at a
considerable height overhung the river; from this post they had
a bird's-eye view, and reconnoitred before one of the numerous
party descended to drink.
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