CH. xvn 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 nyika, 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 



