THE TOPI CAMP. 379 



Our camp was made in the open above a tiny 

 stream. We saw wonderful sunrises and sun- 

 sets, and always spread out before us was the 

 sweep of our plains and the unbroken ramparts 

 that hemmed us in. From these mountains 

 meandered small stream- ways marked by narrow 

 strips of trees and brush, but the most of the 

 valley was of high green grass. Occasional ant 

 hills ten feet tall rose conical from the earth ; 

 and the country was pleasingly broken and 

 modelled, so that one continually surmounted 

 knolls, low, round ridges, and the like. Of such 

 conditions are surprises made. 



The elevation here was some 7,000 feet, so 

 that the nights were cold and the days not too 

 warm. Our men did not fancy this change of 

 weather. A good many of them came down 

 with the fever always latent in their systems, 

 and others suffered from bronchial colds. 



At one time we had down sick eleven men 

 out of our slender total. However, I believe, in 

 spite of these surface symptoms, that the cold 

 air did them good. It certainly improved our 

 own appetites and staying power. 



In the thirty or forty square miles of our 

 valley were many herds of varied game. We here 

 for the first time found Neuman's hartebeeste. 



