WE RETURN TO TAVETA 



169 



weather had been fine enough to allow us to enjoy the view ; 

 but it rained constantly, not in a steady downpour, as before, 

 but in heavy showers — a sure sign that the rainy season ^^'as 

 nearly over. 



There were plenty of banana plantations but no huts in the 

 immediate vicinity of our camp, and it was not until the next 

 day that we passed the inhabited portion of Kahe, which is a 

 long narrow strip on the right l)ank of the Mwaleni river. 

 We should very soon have left it behind us but for the difficulty 

 of getting the animals over the water. We even had to drag- 

 across the cattle, generally such clever swimmers, with the help 

 of ropes. The vegetation peculiar to the Kilimanjaro district is 

 exchanged on the -other side of this river for doum palms, and 

 not until the Himo is reached do the acacias, baobabs, and other 

 trees characteristic of that neighbourhood again occur. The 

 Himo where we crossed it was more than 16 yards wide and 

 3 feet deep, but it was bridged over by a colossal trunk, and 

 the transit was effected without any difficulty. 



The next day. May 17, our circuit of Kilimanjaro andMeru 

 was to come to an end, at which we all rejoiced, as travelling 

 in the rain was anything but pleasant. However, the morning- 

 broke clear and bright, the cloudless blue sky looking as if 

 rain were a thing unknown, and but for our wet clothes we 

 might really have doubted it ourselves. 



We had two routes to choose from — one through dense 

 forest, the other in a southerly direction along the chain of 

 hills, at the northern end of which we had camped after our 

 first march from Taveta, thirty-six days before. We chose the 

 latter, and wended our way, first across a flat district, then, as 

 we got nearer the hills, over rough, broken ground, the path 

 getting worse and worse. In the early part of the day Count 

 Teleki, who always headed the caravan, was lucky enough to 

 surprise a small flock of ostriches ; he brought down a hen with 



