277 
ch. xi] TO MERU AND KENIA 
There were waterbuck and impalla in this swamp. I 
tried to get a bull of the former, but failed. Several 
times I was within fifty yards of doe impalla and cow 
waterbuck, with their young, and watched them as they 
fed and rested, quite unconscious of my presence. 
Twice 1 saw steinbuck, on catching sight of me, lie 
down, hoping to escape observation. The red coat of 
the steinbuck is rather conspicuous, much more so than 
the coat of the duiker, yet it often tries to hide from 
possible foes. 
Late in the afternoon of September 3, Cuninghame 
and Heller, with the main safari, joined me, and I 
greeted them joyfully, while my men were equally 
pleased to see their fellows, each shaking hands with his 
especial friends. Next morning we started toward 
Meru, heading north-east, toward the foothills of 
Kenia. The vegetation changed its character as we 
rose. By the stream where we had camped grew the 
great thorn-trees with yellow-green trunks which we 
had become accustomed to associate with the presence 
of herds of game. Out on the dry flats were other 
thorns, weazened little trees, or mere scrawny bushes, 
with swellings like bulbs on the branches and twigs, and 
the long thorns far more conspicuous than the scanty 
foliage ; though what there was of this foliage, now 
brilliant green, was exquisite in hue and form, the 
sprays of delicate little leaves being as fine as the 
daintiest lace. On the foothills all these thorn-trees 
vanished. We did not go as high as the forest belt 
proper (here narrow, while above it the bamboos 
covered the mountain side), but tongues of juniper forest 
stretched down along the valleys which we crossed, and 
there were large patches of coarse deer-fern, while 
among many unknown flowers we saw blue lupins, 
