I-'KMALK f, KANT S < i.V/.KI.I.KS T. \KI.Ni; I'D ILICHT 



XXIX 

 Velt Conflagrations 



*YKRY year a lar^e portion of the Kast African 

 \^ ^ velt is devastated by j^reat conflagrations. Coal- 

 black tree-trunks arc: seen where the rainy season had 

 left all fresh and ^reen. I^verythin^" has been cjuicklx 

 burnt by the whirlwind of flames that has rushed through 

 the district. 



At the commencement of the drought you see at 



nightfall a spot of lire here an 1 there in the distance. 



I he small red <^lo\v increases until the \\hole iion/on is 



abla/e. I hese arc: conflagrations in j)lac'es where the 



;_;rass is already dried up, perhaps on the slopes of distant 



hills, which burn ni^'ht alter ni;^ht 



h'n'hting up the country lor miles. \\hc-re\-er prairies are 

 in Africa this state of things is found. Mv friend 

 1 )r. Richard kandi, the disco\'erc;r ot th<' sources of the 

 Nile, has the same tiling to tell u> about ('entral Alrita 

 in his remarkable- book ( df>n I A///. 



\\hen the dryness has become general, th<- natixc 

 himself as wc-11 ,is the traveller will often iiLdit ,i lire, so 



