32 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



East Africa; while a man with money can undoubtedly do 

 very well indeed; and incidentally both men will be lead- 

 ing their lives under conditions peculiarly attractive to a 

 certain kind of spirit. It means hard work, of course; 

 but success generally does imply hard work. 



The plains were generally covered only with the thick 

 grass on which the great herds of game fed; here and there 

 small thorn-trees grew upon them, but usually so small 

 and scattered as to give no shelter or cover. By the oc- 

 casional watercourses the trees grew more thickly, and also 

 on the hills and in the valleys between. Most of the trees 

 were mimosas, or of similar kind, usually thorny; but there 

 were giant cactus-like Euphorbias, shaped like candela- 

 bra, and named accordingly; and on the higher hills fig- 

 trees, wild olives, and many others whose names I do not 

 know, but some of which were stately and beautiful. Many 

 of the mimosas were in bloom, and covered with sweet- 

 smelling yellow blossoms. There were many flowers. On 

 the dry plains there were bushes of the color and size of 

 our own sage-brush, covered with flowers like morning- 

 glories. There were also wild sweet-peas, on which the 

 ostriches fed; as they did on another plant with a lilac 

 flower of a faint heliotrope fragrance. Among the hills 

 there were masses of singularly fragrant flowers like pink 

 jessamines, growing on bushes sometimes fifteen feet high 

 or over. There were white flowers that smelt like narcissus, 

 blue flowers, red lilies, orange tiger-lilies, and many others 

 of many kinds and colors, while here and there in the pools 

 of the rare rivers grew the sweet-scented purple lotus-lily. 



There was an infinite variety of birds, small and large, 

 dull-colored and of the most brilliant plumage. For the 



