APPENDIX I 



Most people are very much interested in how hot 

 it gets in such tropics as we traversed. Unfortu- 

 nately it is very difficult to tell them. Tempera- 

 ture tables have very little to do with the matter, 

 for humidity varies greatly. On the Serengetti and 

 lower reaches of the Guaso Nyero I have seen it well 

 above i lo degrees. It was hot, to be sure, but not ex- 

 haustingly so. On the other hand, at 90 or 95 along 

 the low coast belt I have had the sweat run from me 

 literally in streams; so that a muddy spot formed 

 wherever I stood still. In the highlands, moreover, 

 the nights were often extremely cold. I have re- 

 corded night temperatures as low as 40 at 7,000 

 feet of elevation; and noon temperatures as low as 



65. 



Of more importance than the actual or sensible 

 temperature of the air is the power of the sun's 

 rays. At all times of year this is practically con- 

 stant; for the orb merely swings a few degrees north 

 and south of the equator, and the extreme difference 

 in time between its risings or settings is not more 

 than twenty minutes. This power is also practi- 



407 



