II 



AFRICA 



IN LOOKING back on the multitudinous pictures 

 that the word Africa bids rise in my memory, 

 four stand out more distinctly than the others. 

 Strangely enough, these are by no means all pictures 

 of average country the sort of thing one would 

 describe as typical. Perhaps, in a way, they sym- 

 bolize more the spirit of the country to me, for 

 certainly they represent but a small minority of its 

 infinitely varied aspects. But since we must make 

 a start somewhere, and since for some reason these 

 four crowd most insistently in the recollection, it 

 might be well to begin with them. 



Our camp was pitched under a single large mi- 

 mosa tree near the edge of a deep and narrow ravine 

 down which a stream flowed. A semicircle of low 

 mountains hemmed us in at the distance of several 

 miles. The other side of the semicircle was occupied 

 by the upthrow of a low rise blocking off an horizon 

 at its nearest point but a few hundred yards away. 

 Trees marked the course of the stream; low scattered 



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