We Once Saw Opposite Tette Young
Crocodiles In December, Swimming Beside An Island In Company With An
Old One.
The yolk of the egg is nearly as white as the real white.
In taste they resemble hen's eggs with perhaps a smack of custard,
and would be as highly relished by whites as by blacks, were it not
for their unsavoury origin in men-eaters.
Hunting the Senze (Aulacodus Swindernianus), an animal the size of a
large cat, but in shape more like a pig, was the chief business of
men and boys as we passed the reedy banks and low islands. They set
fire to a mass of reeds, and, armed with sticks, spears, bows and
arrows, stand in groups guarding the outlets through which the seared
Senze may run from the approaching flames. Dark dense volumes of
impenetrable smoke now roll over on the lee side of the islet, and
shroud the hunters. At times vast sheets of lurid flames bursting
forth, roaring, crackling and exploding, leap wildly far above the
tall reeds. Out rush the terrified animals, and amid the smoke are
seen the excited hunters dancing about with frantic gesticulations,
and hurling stick, spear, and arrow at their burned out victims.
Kites hover over the smoke, ready to pounce on the mantis and locusts
as they spring from the fire. Small crows and hundreds of swallows
are on eager wing, darting into the smoke and out again, seizing
fugitive flies. Scores of insects, in their haste to escape from the
fire, jump into the river, and the active fish enjoy a rare feast.
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