MY FIRST SETTLEMENT ON KILIMA NJARO. 129 
just below my feet, seeming like tlie birds wliich 
accompanied Solomon when he flew through the air 
on his magic carpet, as the Arab legends tell us. 
Throughout the four months of my residence in 
Kitimbiriu the beauties of the scenery never palled and 
never grew monotonous. With such varied atmo¬ 
spheric agencies the effects around us changed like the 
designs of a kaleidoscope, and rarely came two alike. 
Sometimes, perhaps at early dawn, everything would 
be veiled in blank mist, save only the summit of Kibo, 
and this would gleam out above the clouds, like some 
supernatural vision, rosy in the effulgence of the coming 
dawn. Or, it might be, in the noontide every trace of 
vapour would have vanished, and the velvet forest lie 
glowing in gold-green light and dusky purple shadows, 
every detail strongly marked, while the precipices, 
jutting rocks, and shining nevees of Kibo were discern¬ 
ible with startling clearness, though the peak lay dis¬ 
tant nearly fifteen miles. In the afternoon, perhaps, the 
sky was hung with dense curtains of purple-grey cloud, 
and the plain below lay in monotonous blue shadow; 
only away to the west, behind the pyramid of Meru, the 
heavens exhibited one clear, cloudless belt, which the 
descending sun turned to refulgent gold, and against 
this relief, as on some antique illumination or decora¬ 
tive design, the peak of Meru and the jagged hill-tops at 
its base would stand out in a simple tone of indigo. 
On the morning: succeeding mv arrival I had little 
leisure for observing the scenery, although I felt in 
high spirits and very much the better for my long, 
dreamy, restful afternoon of the day before, spent idly 
in the contemplation of the matchless landscapes 
round me. Perhaps for this reason I was inclined to 
relent in my just wrath against the Rabai porters, and 
K 
