236 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



interrupted succession. In most of them we saw the Ki- 

 kuyu women at work with their native hoes; for among the 

 Kikuyus, as among other savages, the woman is the drudge 

 and beast of burden. Our trail led by clear, rushing 

 streams, which formed the head- waters of the Tana; 

 among the trees fringing their banks were graceful palms, 

 and there were groves of tree ferns here and there on the 

 sides of the gorges. 



On the afternoon of the second day we struck upward 

 among the steep foot-hills of the mountain, riven by deep 

 ravines. We pitched camp in an open glade, surrounded 

 by the green wall of tangled forest, the forest of the tropical 

 mountain sides. 



The trees, strange of kind and endless in variety, grew 

 tall and close, laced together by vine and creeper, while 

 underbrush crowded the space between their mossy trunks, 

 and covered the leafy mould beneath. Toward dusk crested 

 ibis flew overhead with harsh clamor, to seek their night 

 roosts; parrots chattered, and a curiously home-like touch 

 was given by the presence of a thrush in color and shape al- 

 most exactly like our robin. Monkeys called in the depths 

 of the forest, and after dark tree-frogs piped and croaked, 

 and the tree hyraxes uttered their wailing cries. 



Elephants dwelt permanently in this mountainous re- 

 gion of heavy woodland. On our march thither we had 

 already seen their traces in the "shambas," as the culti- 

 vated fields of the natives are termed; for the great beasts 

 are fond of raiding the crops at night, and their inroads 

 often do serious damage. In this neighborhood their habit 

 is to live high up in the mountains, in the bamboos, while 

 the weather is dry; the cows and calves keeping closer to the 



