[Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ SNOW-WHITE HERONS MADE THEIR NESTS IN THE ACACIAS NEAR MY CAMP AND SHOWED NO MARKED TIMIDITY.] [Illustration: A SINGLE PAIR OF CRESTED CRANES WERE OFTEN TO BE SEEN NEAR MY CAMP.] [Illustration: A SNAKE-VULTURE. I SUCCEEDED TWICE ONLY IN SECURING A PHOTOGRAPH OF THIS BIRD.] [Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ PREPARING TO SKIN A HIPPOPOTAMUS. THE PRESERVATION OF THE HIDE OF THIS SPECIMEN PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL. IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO PRESERVE HIPPOPOTAMUS-HIDES WITHOUT HUGE QUANTITIES OF ALUM AND SALT, BOTH VERY HARD TO GET IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA. THE SKIN OF THE HEAD IS THINNER AND MORE MANAGEABLE THAN THAT OF THE REST OF THE BODY.] [Illustration: _C. G. Schillings, phot._ HIPPOPOTAMI, POPPING THEIR HEADS OR EARS AND SNOUTS UP ABOVE THE SURFACE OF THE WATER.] How mortal lives are intertwined and interwoven! The ox-peckers swarm round the buffaloes and protect them from their pests, the ticks and other parasites. The small species of marsh-fowl rely upon the warning cry of the Egyptian geese or on the sharpness of the herons, ever on the alert and signalling always the lightning-like approach of their enemy the falcons (_Falco biarmicus_, Tem., and _F. minor_, Bp.). All alike have sense enough to steer clear of the crocodiles, which have to look to fish chiefly for their nourishment, like almost all the frequenters of these marshy regions. The quantities of fish I have found in every pool in these swamps defy description--I am anxious to insist upon this point--and this although almost all the countless birds depend on them chiefly for their food. Busy beaks and bills ravage every pool and the whole surface of the lagoon-like swamp for young fish and fry. The herons and darters (_Assingha rufa_, Lacèp. Daud.) manage even to do some successful fishing in the deeper waters of the river. _And yet, in spite of all these fish-eaters, the river harbours almost a superabundance of fish._[2] Wandering along by the river, we take in all these impressions. For experiences of quite another kind, we have only to make for the neighbouring velt, now arid again and barren, and thence to ascend the steep ridges leading up to the tableland of Nyíka.