234 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



groves of the South, and hermit thrushes, winter wrens, 

 and sweetheart sparrows in the spruce and hemlock forests 

 of the North; when bobolinks in the East and meadow- 

 larks East and West sing in the fields; and water ousels by 

 the cold streams of the Rockies, and canyon wrens in their 

 sheer gorges; when from the Atlantic seaboard to the 

 Pacific wood thrushes, veeries, rufous-backed thrushes, 

 robins, bluebirds, orioles, thrashers, cat-birds, house finches, 

 song sparrows some in the East, some in the West, some 

 both East and West and many, many other singers thrill 

 the gardens at sunrise; until the long days begin to shorten, 

 and tawny lilies burn by the roadside, and the indigo bunt- 

 ings trill from the tops of little trees throughout the hot 

 afternoons. 



We were in the Kikuyu country. On our march we met 

 several parties of natives. I had been much inclined to 

 pity the porters, who had but one blanket apiece; but 

 when I saw the Kikuyus, each with nothing but a smaller 

 blanket, and without the other clothing and the tents of 

 the porters, I realized how much better off the latter were 

 simply because they were on a white man's safari. At 

 Neri boma we were greeted with the warmest hospitality 

 by the District Commissioner, Mr. Browne. Among other 

 things, he arranged a great Kikuyu dance in our honor. 

 Two thousand warriors, and many women, came in; as 

 well as a small party of Masai moran. The warriors were 

 naked, or half-naked; some carried gaudy blankets, others 

 girdles of leopard skin; their ox-hide shields were colored 

 in bold patterns, their long-bladed spears quivered and 

 gleamed. Their faces and legs were painted red and yellow; 

 the faces of the young men who were about to undergo the 



