234 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
groves of the South, and hermit thrushes, winter wrens, 
and sweetheart sparrows in the spruce and hemlock forests 
of the North; when bobolinks in the East and meadow¬ 
larks East and West sing in the fields; and water ousels by 
the cold streams of the Rockies, and canyon wrens in their 
sheer gorges; when from the Atlantic seaboard to the 
Pacific wood thrushes, veeries, rufous-backed thrushes, 
robins, bluebirds, orioles, thrashers, cat-birds, house finches, 
song sparrows—some in the East, some in the West, some 
both East and West—and many, many other singers thrill 
the gardens at sunrise; until the long days begin to shorten, 
and tawny lilies burn by the roadside, and the indigo bunt¬ 
ings trill from the tops of little trees throughout the hot 
afternoons. 
We were in the Kikuyu country. On our march we met 
several parties of natives. I had been much inclined to 
pity the porters, who had but one blanket apiece; but 
when I saw the Kikuyus, each with nothing but a smaller 
blanket, and without the other clothing and the tents of 
the porters, I realized how much better off the latter were 
simply because they were on a white man’s safari. At 
Neri boma we were greeted with the warmest hospitality 
by the District Commissioner, Mr. Browne. Among other 
things, he arranged a great Kikuyu dance in our honor. 
Two thousand warriors, and many women, came in; as 
well as a small party of Masai moran. The warriors were 
naked, or half-naked; some carried gaudy blankets, others 
girdles of leopard skin; their ox-hide shields were colored 
in bold patterns, their long-bladed spears quivered and 
gleamed. Their faces and legs were painted red and yellow; 
the faces of the young men who were about to undergo the 
