226 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



From the pass we were vouchsafed a view southwest 

 over wide plains extending off into hazy distance, and 

 some very dim blue mountains perhaps forty miles 

 away. We thought to make out the winding course of 

 the Ruwana. The day 's journey toward this plain was 

 through country very much like the outermost foothills 

 of our Sierra Nevadas — low rolling hills, scattered high 

 chaparral and buckthorn, rock outcrops, and little 

 flat valleys of dried yellow grass with a terrific reflected 

 heat. 



About noon we caught sight of several small native 

 villages, apparently deserted; and as we saw quite a 

 few tsetse flies, we thought we knew the reason. The 

 tsetse seems to be gradually extending its range, and 

 crowding the cattle-raising savages inward. 



Camped huddled in the thin shade of two thorn 

 trees near a lone waterhole — ^which we found after 

 some search — and endured the midday heat. At four, 

 although the thermometer was still at 90, the sun had 

 lost much of its strength, so we went out to look for 

 meat. The astute reader of this has discovered that 

 we require either one large, two medium, or three smaller 

 beasts per diem to keep fed up. This is important, as 

 we have little other food. We ourselves are now down 

 to tea, sugar, rice, lima beans (nearly gone), flour, and 

 a little dried fruit. Shot a topi through the heart, 

 210 yards. He ran in a short circle for fifty yards, 

 then dove with a magnificent bound headlong into the 



