GIRAFFES SPOOR 



good trail leading almost due westward. It was 

 obvious that rain had fallen hereabouts, and the 

 scene was most attractive ; there were shady trees, 

 green grass, and even the ubiquitous thorn bushes 

 were just beginning to show some leaves. Somehow 

 the scenery gave me the impression of early spring, 

 though in reality it was midsummer in that latitude. 

 This was too pleasant to continue, and I was not 

 surprised when we soon entered once more the 

 endless wait-a-bit thorn-scrub. 



Throughout this country giraffes and giraffes' 

 spoor are to be seen in astonishing numbers, yet 

 it is hard for those who have not experienced it to 

 believe how difficult they are to see. Their liver- 

 coloured bodies netted with white seem to blend 

 perfectly with the bush in which they live. This 

 shows how easily Nature surpasses any efforts of 

 ours, for who would have thought that so con- 

 spicuously marked an animal would be almost invisible 

 under certain circumstances ? 



As we trudged on, the heat grew and travelling 

 became most tedious, owing to the thickness of the 

 bush and the soft sand under foot. So that it was 

 with geniune relief that we saw the scrub thinning 

 out into a little plain which really formed a plateau 

 of low elevation, although it was scarcely perceptible 

 to the eye. In its centre was the typical Jubaland 

 rain-pool — that is to say, a large circular depression 

 filled with dense jungle. There is a very curious 

 but general tradition among the Somali, that these 

 pools were made by the prehistoric inhabitants of 

 the country. The only foundation for this belief 

 is the curious similarity of these natural reservoirs, 

 and the strange fact that they are often situated at 



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