362 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



as the narrative will show, were forced to return. 

 We found it always the same type ; pleasant 

 sleepy little valleys winding around and between 

 low hills crowned with soft groves and forests. 

 It was for all the world like northern Surrey, or 

 like some of the live oak country of California. 

 Only this we soon discovered : in spite of the 

 enchantment of the magic-protecting forest, the 

 upper benches too were subject to the spell that 

 lies over all Africa. These apparently little 

 valleys were in reality the matter of an hour's 

 journey to cross ; these rounded hills, to all 

 seeming only two good golf strokes from bottom 

 to top, were matters of serious climbing ; these 

 compact, squared groves of oaklike trees were 

 actually great forests of giants in which one 

 could lose one's self for days, in which roamed 

 herds of elephant and buffalo. It looked com- 

 pact because we could see all its constituent 

 elements. As a matter of fact, it was neat and 

 tidy ; only we were, as usual, too small for it. 



At the end of two hours' fast marching we had 

 made the distance, say, from the clubhouse to 

 the second hole. Then we camped in a genuinely 

 little grove of really small trees overlooking a 

 green valley bordered with wooded hills. The 

 prospect was indescribably delightful ; a sort of 



