146 TREKKING [ch. vii 



been out of tlie country for eight years, and showed no 

 ill effects whatever ; on the contrary, I quite believed 

 Mr. Hurlburt when she said that she regarded the 

 fertile wooded hills of Kijabe, with their forests and 

 clear brooks, as forming a true health resort. 



The northern look of the place was enhanced by the 

 fact that the forests contained junipers ; but they also 

 contained monkeys, a small green monkey, andHhe big 

 guereza, with its long silky hair and bold black-and- 

 white colouring. Kermit, Heller, and Loring shot 

 several. There were rhinoceros and buffalo in the 

 neighbourhood. A few days previously some buffalo 

 had charged, unprovoked, a couple of the native boys of 

 the mission, who had escaped only by their agility in 

 tree-climbing. On one of his trips to an outlying 

 mission station, Mr. Hurlburt had himself narrowly 

 escaped a serious accident. Quite wantonly, a cow 

 rhino, with a calf, charged the safari almost before they 

 knew of its presence. It attacked Hurlburt's mule, 

 which fortunately he was not riding, and tossed and 

 killed it ; it passed through the line, and then turned 

 and again charged it, this time attacking one of the 

 porters. The porter dodged behind a tree, and the 

 rhino hit the tree, knocked off a huge flake of bark and 

 wood, and galloped away. 



The trek across " the thirst," as any waterless country 

 is frequently called by an Africander, is about sixty 

 miles by the road. On our horses we could have ridden 

 it in a night ; but on a serious trip of any kind loads 

 nmst be carried, and laden porters cannot go fast, and 

 must rest at intervals. AVe had rather more than our 

 porters could carry, and needed additional transportation 

 for the water for the safari ; and we had hired four ox- 

 waggons. They were under the lead of a fine young 



