238 SAFARI 



grass country with boulders and stones all over the 

 place; no trees, but lots of small scrub bushes with 

 gnarled roots above the ground. Thirty minutes 

 after leaving timber line we came to what was called 

 the first rest at 12,000 feet. 



Before going further I will describe the origin of 

 these rest houses. A few years ago, a Mr. Carr, who 

 is a retired millionaire jam manufacturer from 

 England, with three hundred porters, spent several 

 months in clearing a road through the forest. His 

 idea was to make the road direct to the snow line. 

 But this first rest house was as far as he got. Here 

 he and his porters erected a portable house that 

 looked like the portable garages we have at home. 

 As they could not get the road further they carried 

 the other rest house up a few thousand feet and 

 erected it, but winds have blown it away. 



We did not use the rest house that night ; but had a 

 tent set up. It was so cold that we could not sleep. 

 In the night the boys started coughing and muttering 

 for they, too, were sleepless. In the morning our 

 basin was frozen over, and both Osa and I had bad 

 colds. Five boys had fevers of over 103 and I had 

 one of 102. We decided to rest a day and start on 

 the next, as I was in no condition to walk. Here 

 we left the mules, as the grade was almost straight 

 up. It got our wind so badly that we could only walk 

 a short distance at a time. Besides, we had to 



