198 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



only true of the meadow-mouse, but also of 

 most rodents that live in a fixed abode. 



Our highest camp in British East Africa was 

 on Mount Kenia, at an altitude of thirteen thou- 

 sand seven hundred feet. Here Doctor Mearns 

 and I remained four days, Colonel Roosevelt, 

 in the meantime, having passed around to the 

 opposite side of the mountain to collect a group 

 of elephants for the Smithsonian Institution. 

 We were above the heavy timber and even 

 beyond the bamboo belt, but there were a few 

 patches of stunted heather here and there. 

 Although the equator crossed the mountain 

 peak a mile or so to the east, the nights were so 

 cold that half an inch of ice formed on buckets 

 of water standing outside the tent. 



We had plenty of tinned food, but fresh meat 

 was scarce, which naturally increased our desire 

 for it. One or two small antelopes were seen 

 about the rocky ridges, but we failed to shoot 

 any. Our work consisted in collecting birds and 

 small mammals, and we found the latter well 

 represented by numerous species of rodents 

 rats and mice. 



The mountain hyrax an animal somewhat 

 resembling a guinea-pig but the size of a wood- 



