22 DESCRIPTIVE 



peak of some distant, lofty chain of hills, we 

 have a new element of beauty added to the 

 absorbing picture, the details of which we have 

 set ourselves to examine — that one necessary 

 feature of far-away mountains which now 

 completes the harmonious tropical landscape. 

 Away to the south, here and there, many miles 

 apart, but in appearance comparatively close 

 together, rise isolated pillars of thin, blue smoke, 

 the smoke of the grass fires whereby the over- 

 burdened land rids itself of the redundant vege- 

 tation of the past rainy season. This smoke 

 now overshadows the entire country, toning 

 down the overhead blue to a shade almost 

 resembling transparent French grey. A haze 

 overhangs the forest and plain, only to be dissi- 

 pated by the first deluges of the rains of early 

 December, and there is in the air the sweet, dry 

 smell of the grass that awaits but the spark of 

 some passing native's cigarette to burst into 

 conflagration also. 



We pass onward through the forest, leaving the 

 Zambezi behind, and every step of the journey 

 possesses its own peculiar interest. The country 

 hereabout is evidently the home of a fair 

 amount of game. Each partly dried water-hole 

 is paddled all round with the spoor of all kinds of 

 animals, from the vast foot-print of the ponderous 

 elephant to the tiny delicate impression of the 

 graceful steenbuck. The prostrate trunks of 

 recently flourishing trees, as also the nibbled 

 extremities of the green bamboo shoots, tell of 

 the passage of elephants, as do also the ponderous 



