404 CLOSING INCIDENTS. 



who jealously guarded the sacred abode of the once so mighty ruler from 

 the curiosity of visiting strangers. 



When Roosevelt left America to spend the winter in the African tropics, 

 grave apprehensions were entertained by many of his friends that he never 

 might return home alive. Our brave hero laughed at their anxious fears. 

 But when he left civilization behind and entered the unbroken wildernesses 

 of Uganda he found himself in the midst of new and extraordinary difficul- 

 ties that well might have deterred a less courageous and strenuous traveler 

 from progressing farther into the very heart of wildest Africa. 



The expedition that left Kampala last Christmas consisted of Colonel 

 Roosevelt, Kermit, Mearns, Heller, Loring and Cunninghame. They had 

 thirty porters and boys to carry their 200 loads of supplies. Their destina- 

 tion was Rhino Camp in Belgian Congo, which is a permanent basis for 

 hunters, and where the ex-President expected to find the white rhinoceros, the 

 killing of which was one of the chief objects of his African hunting trip. 

 This beast is very rare and many African sportsmen have failed in securing 

 specimens of the same. If the game sought for was not found within a week 

 in the territory formerly remarkable for its presence, the quest was to be 

 abandoned. 



Their road went through one of the most beautiful countries on earth. 

 Uganda has been called the garden spot of the tropics. The tropical vegeta- 

 tion that meets the eye on every side excells in luxuriance and brilliancy 

 every thing seen elsewhere on earth. The charming attractiveness of the 

 scenery, the glowing floral beauty of the landscape, the millions of crimson 

 purple, yellow and violet blossoms that cover the fields, the beautiful many 

 colored plants and trees that grow in profusion around the green lawns — 

 everything seems to breathe beauty and exhale paradisiacal flavors. 



At short intervals they came upon little thriving villages imbedded in 

 luxuriant groves of bananas, orange and lemon trees, the banana being the 

 most important productive food plant of this country, while coffee, tea, 

 cocoa and vanilla plantations formed pleasant interruptions in the eternal 

 monotony of the endless cotton fields or cinnamon forests and double avenues 

 of young rubber trees extended on both sides along the roads. Add to this 

 royal luxuriance of the tropical vegetation the fact that Uganda, being on an 

 altitude of 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, enjoys a lovely, almost tem- 

 perate climate and that soft, cool breezes day and night sweep over the fields. 



