COLONEL ROOSEVELT A REMARKABLE HUNTER. 173 



had been planned in his honor, but which was abandoned, owing to 

 his expressed desire to spend the time as quietly as possible in order 

 to do a little writing. 



The special train bearing Ex-President Roosevelt and party 

 arrived at Kijabe in the afternoon. All the porters of the expedi- 

 tion, who had preceded Col. Roosevelt to this point, were lined up 

 on the station platform and cheered Col. Roosevelt when the train 

 pulled in. The journey of forty-four miles occupied four days. 



ROOSEVELT RODE ON A LOCOMOTIVE COW-CATCHER. 



Col. Roosevelt rode half the distance on the locomotive cow- 

 catcher with Major Mearns. They perched themselves on the 

 engine's front at Kikuyu and stayed there until the train reached 

 Escarpment, a distance of twenty-two miles. A hyena that got 

 on the track was nearly run down. 



The scenery along the road delighted Col. Roosevelt, especially 

 the Rift Valley. The country between Nairobi and Kijabe is for 

 the most part thickly wooded and high. 



The highest point of the Kikuyu escarpment is 7,830 feet. 

 From this point there is a magnificent view down 2,000 feet into 

 the great Rift Valley. . Elephants are plentiful in these forests, but 

 are fairly safe from the hunter, as the thickness of the growth 

 renders pursuit very difficult. 



The American missionaries, whose field and work the Ex- 

 President has come to look over, were at the station, too. They 

 invited him to dinner, but the invitation was declined. 



The party slept in tents pitched near the railway. The follow- 

 ing day Col. Roosevelt visited the mission at Kijabe, an American 

 organization called the African Inland Mission. It is independent 

 and self-controlling in the field, although represented by home coun- 

 cils in Philadelphia and London. The headquarters are at Kijabe, 

 where schools are conducted for missionaries' children and for the 

 industrial training of natives. 



Col. Roosevelt spent some time shooting monkeys, particularly 

 the colobus. Edmund Heller bagged three of the colobus species 

 and a green-faced monkey, and Kermit Roosevelt killed two large 



