32 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
East Africa; while a man with money can undoubtedly do 
very well indeed; and incidentally both men will be lead¬ 
ing their lives under conditions peculiarly attractive to a 
certain kind of spirit. It means hard work, of course; 
but success generally does imply hard work. 
The plains were generally covered only with the thick 
grass on which the great herds of game fed; here and there 
small thorn-trees grew upon them, but usually so small 
and scattered as to give no shelter or cover. By the oc¬ 
casional watercourses the trees grew more thickly, and also 
on the hills and in the valleys between. Most of the trees 
were mimosas, or of similar kind, usually thorny ; but there 
were giant cactus-like Euphorbias, shaped like candela¬ 
bra, and named accordingly; and on the higher hills fig- 
trees, wild olives, and many others whose names I do not 
know, but some of which were stately and beautiful. Many 
of the mimosas were in bloom, and covered with sweet¬ 
smelling yellow blossoms. There were many flowers. On 
the dry plains there were bushes of the color and size of 
our own sage-brush, covered with flowers like morning- 
glories. There were also wild sweet-peas, on which the 
ostriches fed; as they did on another plant with a lilac 
flower of a faint heliotrope fragrance. Among the hills 
there were masses of singularly fragrant flowers like pink 
jessamines, growing on bushes sometimes fifteen feet high 
or over. There were white flowers that smelt like narcissus, 
blue flowers, red lilies, orange tiger-lilies, and many others 
of many kinds and colors, while here and there in the pools 
of the rare rivers grew the sweet-scented purple lotus-lily. 
There was an infinite variety of birds, small and large, 
dull-colored and of the most brilliant plumage. For the 
