A SAFARI AND WHAT IT IS 77 



but along about nine o'clock the equatorial sun be- 

 gins to beat down upon our heavy sun helmets and 

 our red-lined and padded spine protectors. But it 

 is seldom hot for long. A cloud passes across the 

 sun and instantly everything is cooled. A wave 

 of wind sweeps across the hill and cools the moist 

 brow like a camphor compress. An instant later the 

 sun is out again and the land lies swimming in the 

 shimmer of heat waves. Distant hills swim on mi- 

 ragic lakes, and if we are in plains country the 

 mirages appear upon all sides. 



We rarely shot while on a march from camp to 

 camp. We walked or rode along, watching the 

 swarms of game that slowly moved away as we ap- 

 proached. The scenery was beautiful. Sometimes 

 we wound along on game trails or native trails 

 through vast park -like stretches of rolling hills ; at 

 other times we climbed across low hills studded 

 with thorn scrub, while off in the distance rose the 

 blue hills and mountains. To the northward, al- 

 ways with us, was the great Mount Kenia, eighteen 

 thousand feet high and nearly always veiled with 

 masses of clouds. On her slopes are great droves of 

 elephants, and we could pick out the spot where 

 three years before Mrs. Akeley had killed her ele- 

 phant with the record pair of tusks. 



Our marches were seldom long. At noon or even 

 earlier we arrived at our new camping place, ten or 

 twelve miles from our starting of the morning. 

 Frequently we loitered along so that the porters 

 might get there first and the camp be fully estab- 



