BEHEMOTH'S SONG 289 the sound of bubbling wind freed of a sudden, and rushing through a tunnel. Confronted by the strange invader of his midnight haunts, he promptly seeks the cover of the water, only to rise again a short, or even shorter, distance away.

Then comes the song. The first note may either resemble the bellow of a mighty bull or that of an inordinate ass ; the second, and those that come after it, deteriorate sadly into the inbreathed snorting of an ill-humoured and deep-toned pig, full of annoyed yet foiled defiance. A hundred yards away one answers to the call ; his neighbour opposite replies, and the distance takes up an echoing challenge, which may well, as it seems to the observer, reverberate by its repetition the whole length of the river. There is a vastness in this animal, relic as it is of days when the animal world indeed was vast, which enforces respect, and only becomes ridiculous when it scurries away from its human enemy in undignified haste. The dread " dun cow " killed by Guy, Earl of Warwick, the head of which was dragged in by his men, was forcibly brought to mind by the picture of my Arabs on the Dinder hauling triumphantly into camp the gi'otesque head of the hippo.

Now, about 150 miles up the Zeraf, it became more of a matter of interest to get into touch with the people. It had been reported that dhurra was extraordinarily scarce, and that famine was imminent, so that a test of the facts was desirable.