ite a
strong wind, under whose breath the grass lay low and the whole jungle
became wavy like the sea. After the copious rains all vegetation grew
so exuberantly that, in lower places especially, not only the horses
were hidden in the grass, but even the King; so that above the waving
green surface could be seen only the white palanquin, which moved
forward like a launch on a lake. After an hour's journey, on a dry, not
high elevation, they chanced upon gigantic thistles having stems as
thick as the trunk of a tree and flowers the size of a man's head. On
the sides of some mountains which from a distance appeared barren they
saw furze-bushes about twenty-six feet high. Other plants which in
Europe belong to the smallest varieties assumed here proportions
corresponding to the thistles and furze-bushes; and gigantic, isolated
trees rose above the jungle, looking like churches. Particularly
prominent were fig-trees, called "daro," whose weeping boughs, touching
the ground and changing into new trunks, covered immense spaces, so
that each tree formed as it were a separate grove.

This region, from a distance, seemed like one forest; nearer, however,
it appeared that the great trees grew a dozen or even some score paces
apart. In the northern direction very few of them could be seen and the
region assumed the character of a mountainous steppe, covered with an
even jungle over which rose only umbrella-like acacias. The grass there
was more greenish, shorter, and evidently better for pasturage, for
Nell from the King's back and Stas from heights on which he rode, saw
far greater herds of antelopes than up to that time they had met
elsewhere. The animals sometimes grazed alone and at times mingled
together; gnus, cobs, ariels, antelope-cows, hartbeests, springboks,
and great kudus. Zebras and giraffes also were not lacking. The herds,
at the sight of the caravan, stopped feeding, raised their heads, and
pricking their ears, gazed at the white palanquin with extraordinary
amazement, after which in a moment they scampered away, and having run
between ten and twenty paces they again stood still, staring at this
object unknown to them, until, having gratified their curiosity, they
began to graze calmly. From time to time a rhinoceros started up
suddenly before the caravan with a crash and in a rage, but in spite of
its impetuous nature and its readiness to attack everything which comes
within range of its vision, it ran away shamef