He Seemed To Be Able To Understand
The Old Fellow's Brand Of Swahili, And Said It Over Again In A
Brand I Could Understand.
From it I gathered that I was called a
marvellously great sultan, a protector of the poor, and other
Arabian Nights titles.
The birds proved to be white egrets. Now at home I am strongly
against the killing of these creatures, and have so expressed
myself on many occasions. But, looking from the beautiful white
plumage of these villainous mauraders, to the wrinkled countenance
of the grateful weary old savage, I could not fan a spark of
regret. And from the straight line of their retreating flight I
like to think that the rest of the flock never came back, but
took their toll from the wider fields of the plateau above.
Next day we reentered the game-haunted wilderness, nor 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.
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