THE GUASO NYERO 349 



seemingly cactus or aloes, which looked even more like 

 candelabra than the euphorbia which is thus named; and 

 a scattered growth of thorn-trees and bushes. The thorn- 

 trees were of many kinds. One bore only a few leathery 

 leaves, the place of foliage being taken by the mass of poi- 

 sonous-looking, fleshy spines which, together with the 

 ends of the branches, were bright green. The camel-thorn 

 was completely armed with little, sharply hooked thorns 

 which tore whatever they touched, whether flesh or clothes. 

 Then there were the mimosas, with long, straight thorn 

 spikes; they are so plentiful in certain places along the Guaso 

 Nyero that almost all the lions have festering sores in their 

 paws because of the spikes that have broken off in them. 

 In these thorn-trees the weaver-birds had built multitudes of 

 their straw nests, each with its bottle-shaped mouth toward 

 the north, away from the direction of the prevailing wind. 



Each morning we were up at dawn, and saw the heavens 

 redden and the sun flame over the rim of the world. All 

 day long we rode and walked across the endless flats, save 

 that at noon, when the sky was like molten brass, we might 

 rest under the thin half shade of some thorn-tree. As the 

 shadows lengthened and the harsh, pitiless glare softened, 

 we might turn campward; or we might hunt until the sun 

 went down, and the mountains in the far-off west, and the 

 sky above them, grew faint and dim with the hues of fairy- 

 land. Then we would ride back through the soft, warm 

 beauty of the tropic night, the stars blazing overhead and 

 the silver moonlight flooding the reaches of dry grass; it 

 was so bright that our shadows were almost as black and 

 clear-cut as in the day. On reaching camp I would take 

 a cup of tea with crackers or gingersnaps, and after a hot 

 bath and a shave I was always eager for dinner. 



Scattered over these flats were herds of zebra, oryx, and 

 gazelle. The gazelle, the most plentiful and much the 

 tamest of the game, were the northern form of the Grant's 

 gazelle, with straighter horns which represented the oppo- 

 site extreme when compared with the horns of the Roberts' 



