OPEN BUSH COUNTRY 



he ever attempted to pass that way again, I could 

 offer him little consolation, but it is to be hoped, for 

 the credit of our reputation, that some other outlet 

 may be found for the energies of the Samburu and 

 the Abd Wak. So obsessed was he with his troubles 

 that I could get little or no information from him, nor 

 was he particularly anxious to trade, and since nearly 

 all the male population of the village was away at the 

 time, I decided it would be useless to spend much 

 time at that place. So I left the following afternoon 

 with two guides to take me to the next boma, after I 

 had satisfied myself as to the lie of the land and char- 

 acter of the surrounding country. 



On the march I saw several herds of waterbuck, 

 but though I scanned them carefully through my 

 glasses I could not detect any albinos. There were 

 a few gazelle and zebra, and a solitary wart-hog 

 {Phacachoerus cstkiopicus africanus), which, however, 

 carried very poor tusks. The vegetation on the plains 

 became more profuse, forming what I should call 

 " open bush country," while amongst the various kinds 

 of acacia trees that lined the banks of the river, dom 

 palms and a species of willow were conspicuous. In 

 fact, the landscape presented a much more fertile 

 appearance than it had previously. The dreary mud- 

 flats, which contributed so largely to the desolate and 

 forbidding aspect of the country surrounding the main 

 swamp, had disappeared, giving place to extensive 

 stretches of land eminently suitable for agriculture. 

 The rich alluvial soil seemed admirably adapted to the 

 cultivation of cotton, rice and maize, while the forma- 

 tion of the country and the character of the river 

 would enable irrigation to be carried out without any 

 difficulty and at a trifling cost. Who knows but that 



226 



