Page:The empire and the century.djvu/914

 present the whole stretch produces nothing which is of any use except fibre plants, spiky, sword-like growths of forbidding appearance but considerable commercial value. There are some oases in this district, such as the beautiful Teita Hills, but one must commend the arrangement by which the train passes through the greater part of it during the night. Leaving Mombasa at noon, it reaches Makindu at the end of the jungle very early in the morning, and about sunrise 3ie traveller awakens between 8,000 and 4,000 feet above the sea-level, and in scenery which will astonish him if he is making the journey for the first time, and make him think he has travelled several thousand miles and not two hundred and fifty, which is the actual distance. The air is clear and cool and the grass dewy. On either side extend prairies covered at most seasons of the year by herds of zebra and antelope, and dotted with trees of fair size. A little further on, near Nairobi, the plains become undulating, treeless expanses, but here there is a certain amount of scattered vegetation and abrupt, grassy hills. If fortune favours, a glimpse may be obtained of the great snow-covered dome of Kilima Njaro, on the German boundary, but the mountain, though visible from many points, is seen best from Makindu, which is passed in the day-time on the return journey. After threading its way through the hills, the train strikes across the Athi plains, as the open country is called, and reaches Nairobi about midday. All this part of the Protectorate is a game reserve in which no shooting is allowed, with the result that the most extraordinary spectacle of wild and fearless animal life may be seen quite close to the train. The commonest animals are zebras, a large antelope, called the hartebeest, of somewhat bovine appearance, and two very graceful smaller antelopes, yellowish, with a black stripe, known as Grant's and Thomson's gazelle. Ostriches are also abundant and conspicuous, and with luck the traveller may get a sight of giraffe, lion, or rhinoceros, especially early in the morning. There is