XXX. 

 THE SPLENDID SUN-BIRD. 



JE mighty forests of Eastern Africa are 

 nourished and fed by an annual supply 

 of rain. And streams and rivers water 

 the earth. But other parts of the conti- 

 nent are not so favoured. There are tracts of 

 country which suffer from long-continued droughts, 

 and at certain times are barren and waste. The 

 soil is a kind of loose sand, almost like the desert. 

 And yet these tracts of country cannot be called 

 deserts. In spite of the want of rain, and the 

 sandy soil, they will often be covered with plants 

 and shrubs, and grass will clothe the ground, and 

 here and there trees will grow. 



