MEETING COLONEL ROOSEVELT 
131 
with its elephants, was our goal, and in between 
were the black-maned lions that we hoped to meet. 
It would be hard to exaggerate the charm of this 
climate. And yet this, one thought, was equatorial 
Africa, which, in the popular imagination, is sup¬ 
posed to be synonymous with torrential rains, 
malignant fevers, and dense jungles of matted 
A Night on the Equator 
vegetation. It was more like the friendly stretches 
of Colorado scenery at the time of year when the 
grasses of the valley are dotted with flowers of 
many colors and the sun shines down upon you 
with genial warmth. 
Each morning we marched ten or twelve miles 
and then went into camp near some little stream. 
In the afternoon we hunted for lions, beating out 
