98 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



Besides furnishing one of the most delicious of 

 the tropical fruits, the mango is also one of the 

 most beautiful of trees. It is tall, spreads very 

 wide, and its branches sweep to within ten feet 

 of the ground. Its perfect symmetry combined 

 with the size and deep green of its leaves causes 

 it to resemble, from a short distance, a beautiful 

 green hill. Beneath its umbrella one finds dense 

 shade, unmottled by a single ray of sunlight, so 

 that one can lie under it in full confidence. 

 For, parenthetically, even a single ray of this 

 tropical sunlight is to the unprotected a very 

 dangerous thing. But the leaves of the mango 

 have this peculiarity, which distinguishes it from 

 all other trees namely, that they grow only at 

 the very ends of the small twigs and branches. 

 As these, of course, grow only at the ends of the 

 big limbs, it follows that from beneath the 

 mango looks like a lofty green dome, a veritable 

 pantheon of the forest. 



We made our camp under one of these trees ; 

 gave ourselves all the space we could use ; and 

 had plenty left over five tents and a cook camp, 

 with no crowding. It was one of the pleasantest 

 camps I ever saw. Our green dome overhead 

 protected us absolutely from the sun ; high 

 sweet grass grew all about us ; the breeze wan- 



