XIX 



THE TANA RIVER 



OUR first sight of the Tana River was from the 

 top of a bluff. It flowed below us a hundred 

 feet, bending at a sharp elbow against the cliff on 

 which we stood. Out of the jungle it crept sluggishly 

 and into the jungle it crept again, brown, slow, viscid, 

 suggestive of the fevers and the lurking beasts by 

 which, indeed, it was haunted. From our elevation 

 we could follow its course by the jungle that grew 

 along its banks. At first this was intermittent, leav- 

 ing thin or even open spaces at intervals, but lower 

 down it extended away unbroken and very tall. The 

 trees were many of them beginning to come into 

 flower. 



Either side the jungle were rolling hills. Those 

 to the left made up to the tremendous slopes of 

 Kenia. Those to the right ended finally in a low 

 broken range many miles away called the Ithanga 

 Hills. The country gave one the impression of being 

 clothed with small trees; although here and there this 

 growth gave space to wide grassy plains. Later we 



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