148 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



quite believed Mrs. Hurlburt when she said that she re- 

 garded the fertile wooded hills of Kijabe, with their for- 

 ests and clear brooks, as forming a true health resort. 



The northern look of the place was enhanced by the 

 fact that the forests contained junipers; but they also con- 

 tained monkeys, a small green monkey, and the big guerza, 

 with its long silky hair and bold black-and-white coloring. 

 Kermit, Heller, and Loring shot several. There were 

 rhinoceros and buffalo in the neighborhood. A few days 

 previously some buffalo had charged, unprovoked, a couple 

 of the native boys of the mission, who had escaped only by 

 their agility in tree-climbing. On one of his trips to an 

 outlying mission station, Mr. Hurlburt had himself nar- 

 rowly escaped a serious accident. Quite wantonly, a cow 

 rhino, with a calf, charged the safari almost before they 

 knew of its presence. It attacked Hurlburt's mule, which 

 fortunately he was not riding, and tossed and killed it; it 

 passed through the line, and then turned and again charged 

 it, this time attacking one of the porters. The porter dodged 

 behind a tree, and the rhino hit the tree, knocked off a 

 huge flake of bark and wood, and galloped away. 



The trek across "the thirst," as any waterless country 

 is apt to be called by an Africander, is about sixty miles, 

 by the road. On our horses we could have ridden it in a 

 night; but on a serious trip of any kind loads must be 

 carried, and laden porters cannot go fast, and must rest at 

 intervals. We had rather more than our porters could 

 carry, and needed additional transportation for the water 

 for the safari; and we had hired four ox wagons. They 

 were under the lead of a fine young Colonial Englishman 

 named Ulyate, whose great-grandfather had come to South 



