20 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



made camp in the high grass atop one of these 

 swells. All afternoon we worked busily remedying 

 defects in our saddlery, riveting, sewing, and cutting. 

 That night we heard again our old friends the fever owls. 



Four and three-quarter hours; ii^ miles; elevation, 

 6,900; ther., 5:00 A. M., 52; 2:00 p. M., 78; 8:30, 58. 



July 9. — Daylight showed us a beautiful spectacle 

 of lakes of fog in the shallow valleys below us, and 

 trailing mists along the hills, and ghostlike trees 

 through thin fog. We stumbled for a time over lava 

 debris under the long grass. At the end of an hour or so 

 the sun had burned the fog — and dried our legs. We 

 came to the edge of the escarpment and looked at the 

 Kedong a half mile directly below. Atop the bench 

 we saw our first game : a herd of impalla and twelve 

 zebra. 



Then we went down 2,400 feet, nearly straight. We 

 did not do it all at once — not any ! Not until nearly 

 sundown. The men went all right, but the donkeys were 

 new to the work,* the saddlery not yet adjusted, and 

 we ignorant of how to work this sort of cazi. We had 

 to adjust packs every few minutes, sometimes to re- 

 pack. About noon some of the beasts lay down and 

 refused to get up. We unpacked them, took off their 

 saddles. They stretched out absolutely flat and 



* These African donkeys have for generations lived their lives on the plains. 

 They are quite unaccustomed to hills, and have no idea of how to handle 

 themselves in difficult coimtry. In this they differ markedly from our own 

 western burros. 



