CH. XVII AN INFURIATED RHINO 181 
waterless expanses, bare of everything except grass, 
which the great herds of game keep closely 
cropped. After leaving Tsavo, the character of the 
country remains unaltered for some considerable 
distance, the line continuing to run through the 
thorny zyzka, and it is not until Makindu is reached 
—about two hundred miles from the coast—that a 
change is apparent. From this place, however, the 
journey lies through a fairly open and interesting 
tract of country, where game of all kinds abounds 
and can be seen grazing peacefully within a few 
hundred yards of the railway. On the way I was 
lucky enough to get some fine views of Kilima N jaro, 
the whole mountain from base to summit standing 
out clearly and grandly, with the lofty peak of Kibo 
topping the fleecy clouds with its snowy head. 
At Machakos Road I found the country and the 
climate very different from that to which I had 
grown accustomed at Tsavo. Here I could see for 
miles across stretches of beautiful, open downs, 
timbered here and there like an English park; and 
it was a great relief to be able to overlook a wide 
tract of country and to feel that I was no longer 
hemmed in on all sides by the interminable and 
depressing thorny wilderness. As Machakos Road 
is some four thousand feet higher above the sea 
level than Tsavo, the difference in temperature was 
also very marked, and the air felt fresh and cool 
