XLIII 

 THE TOPI CAMP 



AT the next camp we stayed for nearly a week. 

 The country was charming. Mountains sur- 

 rounded the long ellipse, near one edge of which we 

 had pitched our tents. The ellipse was some ten 

 miles long by four or five wide, and its surface rolled 

 in easy billows to a narrow neck at the lower end. 

 There we could just make out in the far distance a 

 conical hill partly closing the neck. Atop the hill 

 was a Masai manyatta, very tiny, with indistinct 

 crawling red and brown blotches that meant cattle 

 and sheep. Beyond the hill, and through the 

 opening in the ellipse, we could see to another new 

 country of hills and meadows and forest groves. In 

 this clear air they were microscopically distinct. No 

 blue of atmosphere nor shimmer of heat blurred 

 their outlines. They were merely made small. 



Our camp was made in the open above a tiny 

 stream. We saw wonderful sunrises and sunsets; 

 and always spread out before us was the sweep of 

 our plains and the unbroken ramparts that hemmed 



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