1 16 THE TANGANYIKA PROBLEM. 
patches of absolutely bare sandy soil. On these plains 
there were, however, in places, scattered over the surface of 
the ground, a few young euphorbia trees, the seeds of which 
had evidently been disseminated over the plains by the 
wind or birds, and as these hardy plants grew bigger on the 
older land further from the lake shore, 1 noticed that in the 
hot glare of noon their massive structures threw a patch of 
deep cool shadow round their feet. Farther away from the 
lake where the land was older and the euphorbias had con- 
sequently had time to grow proportionately bigger, the 
noon-day spot of shade had also correspondingly increased, 
and in the area of such shadow there were to be found 
varieties of plants, besides the grass, which here found 
protection from the fiery glare and heat, and were con- 
sequently able to grow. Among these plants struggling 
against the naturally adverse conditions of the plains under 
the euphorbia shadows there were thorn trees, climbing 
plants, and flowering shrubs, and when once these plants 
had in this manner got a footing on the plains they 
prospered like one of Germany’s protected industries and 
throve amazingly ; so much so indeed, that on land that was 
still further from the lake, and consequently still older, the 
thorns and bushes of various sorts were enveloping the 
euphorbias, which now appeared as rather choked growths 
in the centre of the bushy patches. Further away again 
from the lake there were many clumps of bushes and 
trees scattered in all directions over the country ; and 
in many of these were still to be found the dead or 
dying remains of the original euphorbia, to the protec- 
tion of which the bush patch owed its growth. The 
seven lean kine had here eaten up the seven fat kine, 
and in such districts we entered the typical scenery of 
an African park. 
