eral background of our day's routine, with
the gray dawn, the great heats of the day, the blessed evening and its
fireflies; the thundering of heaven's artillery, and the downpour of
torrents; the hot, high, crackling thorn scrub into which we made
excursions; the swift-flowing river with its palms and jungles;
outleaning palms trailing their fronds just within the snatch of the
flood waters; wide flats in the embrace of the river bends, or extending
into the low hills, grown thick with lush green and threaded with
rhinoceros paths; the huge sheer cliff mountains over the way; distant
single hills far down. The mild discomfort of the start before daylight
clearly revealed the thorns and stumbling blocks; the buoyant
cheerfulness of the first part of the day, with the grouse rocketing
straight up out of the elephant grass, the birds singing everywhere, and
the beasts of the jungle still a-graze at the edges; the growing weight
of the sun, as though a great pressing hand were laid upon the
shoulders; the suffocating, gasping heat of afternoon, and the;
gathering piling black and white clouds; the cool evening in pyjamas
with the fireflies flickering; among the bushes, the river singing, and
little; breezes wandering like pattering raindrops in the dry palm
leaves--all these, by repetition of main elements, blend in my memory to
form a single image. To be sure each day the rock pinnacles over the way
changed slightly their compass bearings, and little variations of
contour lent variety to the procession of days. But in essentials they
were of one kin.

But here and there certain individual scenes and incidents stand out
clearly and alone. Without reference to my notebook I could not tell you
their chronological order, nor the days of their happening. They
occurred, without correlation.

Thus one afternoon at the loafing hour, when F. was sound asleep under
his mosquito bar, and I in my canvas chair was trying to catch the
breeze from an approaching deluge, to me came a total stranger in a
large turban. He was without arms or baggage of any sort, an alien in a
strange and savage country.

"Jambo, bwana m'kubwa (greeting, great master)!" said he.

"Jambo," said I, as though his existence were not in the least
surprising, and went on reading. This showed him that I was indeed a
great master.

After a suitable interval I looked up.

"Wataka neenee (what do you want)?" I demanded.

"Nataka sema qua heri (I want to say