116 TAVETA AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MERU 



and bananas, which we did not much care for. He became 

 more and more communicative and friendly, and our ques- 

 tions elicited a good deal of geographical information. The 

 bluish-grey forest, he told us, with the clouds of smoke 

 above it, was Taveta, the gleaming water was Lake Jipe, the 

 lofty mountain on our left was Mount Teita ; and so he went 

 on naming every height included in the lovely view, till he 

 came to snow-capped Kibo, and we knew it was time for us 

 to go. 



Later in the evening Miriali came to our camp, bringing 

 with him an ox, a fine spear, a sword, and three colobus skins. 1 

 As a return present Count Teleki at once produced a good 

 revolver, whilst the usual gift of a quantity of stuffs, beads, 

 wire, gunpowder, &c, was, according to custom, handed over 

 late in the evening in perfect silence. 



During the night it rained in torrents, and the next morning, 

 which broke grey and dull, we had our first opportunity of 

 watching the metamorphosis of termites. We had passed a 

 good many 6 white ant ' hills on our way to Kilimanjaro, but so 

 far we had never seen their inhabitants. But to-day the early 

 morning mist was alive with myriads of them, looking like snow- 

 flakes as they fluttered about on their newly acquired wings. 

 In spite of the great size of these wings, they could only fly very 

 slowly, and they seemed chiefly anxious to get rid of their new 

 appendages. Presently they all sank down, and alighting on 

 the ground, on grass, leaves, or on the tent, they doubled them- 

 selves up, and with their hind legs stripped off, first the hinder, 

 and then the front wings. Now and then they bit off each 

 other's wings, the whole thing lasting about an hour ; and soon 

 the now creeping termites had all disappeared, leaving nothing 



1 The Colobus guereza is a beautiful monkey, native to the dense forests near 

 Kilimanjaro, its most noteworthy peculiarity being the bushy white tail and streaks 

 of white hair on its sides. — Trans. 



