146 
TREKKING 
[CH. VII 
been out of the country for eight years, and showed no 
ill effects whatever; on the contrary, I quite believed 
Mr. Hurlburt when she said that she regarded the 
fertile wooded hills of Kijabe, with their forests and 
clear brooks, as forming a true health resort. 
The northern look of the place was enhanced by the 
fact that the forests contained junipers ; but they also 
contained monkeys, a small green monkey, and the big 
guereza, with its long silky hair and bold black-and- 
white colouring. Kermit, Heller, and Loririg shot 
several. There were rhinoceros and buffalo in the 
neighbourhood. A few days previously some buffalo 
had charged, unprovoked, a couple of the native boys of 
the mission, who had escaped only by their agility in 
tree-climbing. On one of his trips to an outlying 
mission station, Mr. Hurlburt had himself narrowly 
escaped a serious accident. Quite wantonly, a cow 
rhino, with a calf, charged the safari almost before they 
knew of its presence. It attacked Hurlburt’s mule, 
which fortunately he was not riding, and tossed and 
killed it; it passed through the line, and then turned 
and again charged it, this time attacking one of the 
porters. The porter dodged behind a tree, and the 
rhino hit the tree, knocked off a huge flake of bark and 
wood, and galloped away. 
The trek across “ the thirst,” as any waterless country 
is frequently called by an Africander, is about sixty 
miles bv the road. On our horses we could have ridden 
it in a night; but on a serious trip of any kind loads 
must be carried, and laden porters cannot go fast, and 
must rest at intervals. We had rather more than our 
porters could carry, and needed additional transportation 
for the water for the safari ; and we had hired four ox- 
waggons. They were under the lead of a fine young 
