Part 14 (1/2)

XVIII IN THE JUNGLE (a) THE MARCH TO MERU

Now, one day we left the Isiola River and cut across on a long upward slant to the left In a very short time we had left the plains, and were adrift in an ocean of brown grass that concealed all but the bobbing loads atop the safari, and over which we could only see when lorious feed, apparently, but it contained very few animals for all that An animal could without doubt wax fat and sleek therein: but only to furnish light and salutaryWe saw a few ostriches, soly adventurous oryx The ripening grasses were softer than a rippling field grain; and even h apparently we travelled a level, nevertheless in the extre below, and the far offabove the horizon On the other side were two very green hills, looking nearly straight up and down, and through a cleft the splintered snow-clad suentle foothill slope broke over into rougher country

Then, in the pass, we cahter than the gaht we calorious trees, with green grass around us; a refreshi+ng contrast after the desert brown In the distance ahead stood a big hill, and at its base we could ht slim san our next 's march early, and we dropped over the hill into a wide, cultivated valley Fields of grain,scattered trees Theunder the sun, was as yet still, and carried sound well The cooing, chattering and calling of thousands of birds ether of pieces of wood As we came closerthat every so often scaffolds had been erected overlooking the grain, and on these scaffolds naked boys danced and yelled and worked clappers to scare the birds froour into the job; whether from natural enthusiasm or efficient direful supervision I could not say Certainly theycould keep up that row continuously for a single day, let alone the whole season of ripening grain As we passed they fell silent and stared their fill

On the banks of a boggy little streaentle They were a tall, well forany in colour, with the open, pleasant expression ofaround his waist into which was thrust a small leafy branch; the wo a banana leaf, using the ste down as a skirt Shortly after ht on a well beaten road

For nearly teeks ere to follow this road, so it ment of about a sixth of the circle of Kenia's foothills With Kenia itself as a centre, this road swung areat mountain

Its course wasfroes between them No sooner n, than we had to climb up; and no sooner e up, than once e At times, however, we crossed considerable plateaus

Most of this country was dense jungle, so dense that we could not see on either side es, however, ould coles live s

At once, as soon as we had turned into the rain fields of the valleyonly the elevated boys, and a fewa little house perched on stilts We came across some of these little houses all coranaries As we mounted the slope on the other side, however, the trees closed in, and we found ourselves le itself

It was a dense and beautiful jungle, with very tall trees and the deepest shade; and the i the trees were the broad leaves of bananas and pal of leafy vines Over the track these leaned, so that we rode through splashi+ng andcould have seemed wilder than this apparently impenetrable and yet we had ridden but a short distance before we realized that ere in fact passing through cultivated land

It was, again, only a difference in terms Native cultivation in this district rarely consists of clearing land and planting crops in due order, but in leaving the forest proper as it is, and in planting foodstuffs haphazard wherever a tiny space can be le banana Thus they add to rather than subtract frole At first, we found, it took some practice to tell a farmit

Froht

Sorowth and eddying in the tops of the trees Long vine ropes swung fro at intervals with such matters as feathers, bones, miniature shi+elds, carved sticks, shells and clappers: either as ic or to keep off the birds Froht black eyes watching us Solimpse of their owners crouched in the bush, concealed behind banana leaves, ainst a tree trunk When they saw themselves observed they vanished without a sound

The upper air was s Rarely did we see theh to catch a fair idea of their size and shape They flashed fro only an impression of brilliant colour There were some exceptions: as the er-bird, dressed all in black, with long trailing wing-plureen pigeons and parrots There wereshrubs and trees, and the air was laden with perfue, too, it see and half asa mile or so ahead of the safari At first ere acco, however, we began to accu

This consisted at first of a very wonderful young ht spear, wore a short sword thrust through a girdle, had his hair done in three wrapped queues, one over each teh state of polish by means of red earth and oil About his knee he wore a little bell that jingled pleasingly at every step Frooat-skin cloak ee neatly done up in leaves probably contained his lunch He teetered along with aup and down step, everya fatuous self-satisfaction When we looked back again this youth had oat All except the goat were dressed for visiting, with long chains of beads, bracelets and anklets, and heavy orna apparently out of the ground was very disconcerting It was a good deal like those fairy-storypictures where a wave of the wand produces beautiful ladies By half an hour we had acquired a long retinue-young warriors, old men, women and innumerable children After we had passed, the new recruits stepped quietly fro o to Meru now as any other ti in the other direction Wo, their spears poised in their left hands at just the proper angle, their bangles jingling, their right hands carried raised in a most affected manner

Their social ease was remarkable, especially in contrast with the aardness of the lower poverty-stricken or menial castes The latter drew one side to let us pass, and stared Our chiefs' sons, on the other hand, stepped springingly and bealy forward; spat carefully in their hands (we did the sa-drawn ” rapid gait The ordinary warriors greeted us, but did not offer to shake hands, thank goodness! There were a great h the open spaces the sun, as it struck down the trail, was always flashi+ng back fro moved from one point to another Three or four herdse Occasionally we uished by the fact that he or a servant carried a snitaries ays stopped to exchange friendly words

These co public The resident public also showed itself quite in evidence Once our retainers had becole people no longer hid On the contrary, they cas They were very good-natured, exceedingly well-formed, and quite jocular with our boys Especially did our suave and elegant Simba sparkle This resident public, called froaudy apublic Banana leaves were popular wear, and seemed to us at once pretty and fresh To be sure some had rather withered away; but even ill shrink We saw sorass skirts, like the Sunday-school pictures

At noon we stopped under a tree by a little strea a dozen wo at Billy with all their ht She nodded and smiled at theer returned after a fewbananas which she laid at our feet

Billy fished sos, and presented the been thus fully established, two or three of the women scurried hastily away, to return a few moments later each with her small child To these infants they carefully and earnestly pointed out Billy and her wonders, talking in a tongue unknown to us The ad like this:

”Now, et to be a very old person you will be able to look back at the day ith your own eyes you beheld a white wos she wears-and HASN'T she a funny face?”

We offered these bung-eyed and totally naked youngsters various bribes in the way of beads, the tinfoil from chocolate, and even a small piece of the chocolate itself Most of theainst their mothers The mothers looked scandalized, and hypocritically astounded, and uage, but which much past experience enabled ot into little Willie,” was the drift of it ”I have never known hi to his father that it really seeh that child NEVER cried-”

It made me feel quite friendly and at honificent personages before whom the women and children drew back to a respectful distance These potentates squatted down and sly Evidently this was a really ie, and had a talk