SPURRED GEESE {PLECTROPTERUS GAMBENSIS). 



VIII 



In a Primeval Forest 



SCENES of marvellous beauty open out before the 

 wanderer who follows the windings of some great 

 river through the unknown regions of Equatorial East 

 Africa. 



The dark, turbid stream is to find its way, after a 

 thousand twists and turns, into the Indian Ocean. Filter- 

 ings from the distant glaciers of Kilimanjaro come down 

 into the arid velt, there to form pools and rivulets that 

 traverse in part the basin of the Djipe Lake and at last 

 are merged in the Rufu River. As is so often the case 

 with African rivers, the banks of the Rufu are densely 

 wooded throughout its long course, the monotony of which 

 is broken by a number of rapids and one big waterfall. 

 Save in those rare spots where the formation of the soil 

 is favourable to their growth, the woods do not extend 

 into the velt. Trees and shrubs alike become parched 



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