66 
THE KILIMA-NJAB0 EXPEDITION. 
unconscious mimicry was rendered tlie more ludi¬ 
crously exact sometimes by the sharply-pointed, fiag- 
like leaves of a kind of squill—a liliaceous plant—- 
which frequently crowned the summit of the ant-hill, 
or grew at its base, thus suggesting the horns of an 
antelope, rather with the head erect, or browsing low 
down. The assimilation cannot have been fancied on 
my part, for it deceived even the sharp eyes of my 
men; and again and again a hartebeest would start 
into motion at twenty yards distance and gallop oh, 
while I was patiently stalking an ant-hill, and crawling 
on my stomach through thorns and aloes, only to find 
the supposed antelope an irregular mass of red clay. 
The great plain which lies between the country of 
Taita and the eastern base of Kilima-njaro swarms 
with game, especially where the land slopes gently 
towards Lake Jipe, which may be descried to the 
southward as a narrow slit of silvery white lying 
between a band of dull green forest and the purple 
wall of theUgweno Mountains. As we marched along 
herds of hartebeest, gnu, eland, and buffalo defiled 
before us, wending their way slowly along their own 
beaten tracks to the accustomed drinking-place, where, 
poor fools, some of them were sure to lose their lives, 
for, lying in ambush in the forest tunnel, down which 
the thirsty creatures rush to the water, would be either 
lions, leopards, or human hunters, armed with poisoned 
arrow and broad-bladed spear. But however much a 
keen desire to drink might blind them to danger when 
they are near their goal, they were wary enough now, 
and their sentinels kept a sharp look-out on our 
movements ; only the giddy zebras—most inquisitive 
of animals—risked their lives by galloping up to inspect 
the passing caravan. The sight of all this game was 
