THE LAST FRONTIER 



ice in Africa : never believe a word the jungle and veldt 

 people tell you! 



These two the impalla and the waterbuck 

 were the principal buck we would see close to the 

 river. Occasionally, however, we came on a few 

 oryx, down for a drink, beautiful big antelope, with 

 white and black faces, reached manes, and straight, 

 nearly parallel, rapier horns upward of three feet 

 long. A herd of these creatures, the light gleaming 

 on their weapons, held all at the same slant, was like a 

 regiment of bayonets in the sun. And there were also 

 the rhinoceroses to be carefully espied and avoided. 

 They lay obliterated beneath the shade of bushes, 

 and arose with a mighty blow-off of steam. Where- 

 upon we withdrew silently, for we wanted to shoot 

 no more rhinos, unless we had to. 



Beneath all these obvious and startling things, 

 a thousand other interesting matters were afoot. In 

 the mass and texture of the jungle grew many strange 

 trees and shrubs. One most scrubby, fat and leaf- 

 less tree, looking as though it were just about to 

 give up a discouraged existence, surprised us by put- 

 ting forth, apparently directly from its bloated wood, 

 the most wonderful red blossoms. Another other- 

 wise self-respecting tree hung itself all over with 

 plump bologna sausages about two feet long and 

 five inches thick. A curious vine hung like a rope, 



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