AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



other affairs of like value. But I think that the 

 apogee of his kindliness was reached when much 

 later he heard from the native tribes that we were 

 engaged in penetrating the defiles of the higher 

 mountains. Then he sent after us a swift Masai 

 runner bearing to us a bottle of whiskey and a mes- 

 sage to the effect that V. was afraid we would find 

 it very cold up there! Think of what that meant; 

 turn it well over in your mind, with all the circum- 

 stances of distance from supplies, difficulty of trans- 

 portation and all! We none of us used whiskey in 

 the tropics, so we later returned it with suitable 

 explanation and thanks as being too good to waste. 



Next morning, under guidance of our friend's boy, 

 we set out for the lower benches, leaving N'gombe 

 Brown and his outfit to camp indefinitely until we 

 needed him for the return journey. 



The whole lay of the land hereabout is, roughly 

 speaking, in a series of shelves. Back of us were the 

 high mountains — the Fourth Bench; we had been 

 travelling on the plateau of the Loieta — the Third 

 Bench; now we were to penetrate some apparently 

 low hills down an unexpected thousand feet to the 

 Second Bench. This was smaller; perhaps only five 

 miles at its widest. Its outer rim consisted also of 

 low hills concealing a drop of precipitous cliffs. 

 There were no passes nor canons here — the streams 



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