r did we see any
more native villages until many weeks later we came into the country of
the Wakamba.

XIX. THE TANA RIVER

Our first sight of the Tana River was from the top of a bluff. It flowed
below us a hundred feet, bending at a sharp elbow against the cliff
on which we stood. Out of the jungle it crept sluggishly and into the
jungle it crept again, brown, slow, viscid, suggestive of the fevers and
the lurking beasts by which, indeed, it was haunted. From our elevation
we could follow its course by the jungle that grew along its banks.
At first this was intermittent, leaving thin or even open spaces at
intervals, but lower down it extended away unbroken and very tall. The
trees were many of them beginning to come into flower.

Either side of the jungle were rolling hills. Those to the left made up
to the tremendous slopes of Kenia. Those to the right ended finally in
a low broken range many miles away called the Ithanga Hills. The country
gave one the impression of being clothed with small trees; although
here and there this growth gave space to wide grassy plains. Later we
discovered that the forest was more apparent than real. The small trees,
even where continuous, were sparse enough to permit free walking in all
directions, and open enough to allow clear sight for a hundred yards or
so. Furthermore, the shallow wide valleys between the hills were almost
invariably treeless and grown to very high thick grass.

Thus the course of the Tana possessed advantages to such as we. By
following in general the course of the stream we were always certain
of wood and water. The river itself was full of fish-not to speak of
hundreds of crocodiles and hippopotamuses. The thick river jungle gave
cover to such animals as the bushbuck, leopard, the beautiful colobus,
some of the tiny antelope, waterbuck, buffalo and rhinoceros. Among
the thorn and acacia trees of the hillsides one was certain of impalla,
eland, diks-diks, and giraffes. In the grass bottoms were lions,
rhinoceroses, a half dozen varieties of buck, and thousands and
thousands of game birds such as guinea fowl and grouse. On the plains
fed zebra, hartebeeste, wart-hog, ostriches, and several species of the
smaller antelope. As a sportsman's paradise this region would be hard to
beat.

We were now afoot. The dreaded tsetse fly abounded here, and we had
sent our horses in via Fort Hall. F. had accompanied them, and hoped to
rejoin us in a few days or w