88 



FROM ADEN TO MOMBASA. 



As the sun drops clown, if you have luck, you may see some 

 giraffes sidling off through those thorn trees, or, perhaps, a stray 

 lion may slink away from the train, for w-e are rising to the high, 

 interior plateau, where begins the greatest Barnum's show in the 

 world. You settle yourself for the night under the blankets you 

 bought at a preposterous price, at De Sousa's. 



The night will be cold in these higher regions and very, very 

 dusty — for we pass through the Taru Desert, a rainless tract, where 

 the red dust rises and permeates everything you have, leaving a 



STAMPEDE OF AFRICAN GNUS. 



sanguinary hue over you and your belongings, which it will take 

 time and patience to remove. 



With the dawn you wake to find the train speeding across the 

 Athi plains, a bare, vast tract, where trembling opalescent hues 

 clothe the level stretches and the distant encircling mountains with 

 splendor. To the right and left are herds of horses and cattle 

 scattered over the earth — why no, they're not ; they are zebras and 

 antelopes, grazing or frisking about. 



Far away are gnus or wildebeestes, humpbacked and black. 

 Nearer are hartebeestes, hundreds of striped zebras, Thomson 



