beautifully wooded, park-like country, and on
looking back out of the carriage windows we
could every now and again obtain lovely views of
Mombasa and Kilindini, while beyond these the
Indian Ocean sparkled in the glorious sunshine as
far as the eye could see. The summit of the Rabai
Hills having been reached, we entered on the
expanse of the Taru Desert, a wilderness covered
with poor scrub and stunted trees, and carpeted in
the dry season with a layer of fine red dust. This
dust is of a most penetrating character, and finds its
way into everything in the carriage as the train
passes along. From here onward game is more or
less plentiful, but the animals are very difficult to
see owing to the thick undergrowth in which they
hide themselves. We managed, however, to catch
sight of a few from the carriage windows, and also
noticed some of the natives, the Wa Nyika, or
"children of the wilderness."

At Maungu, some eighty miles from the coast,
we came to the end of this "desert," but almost
the only difference to be noticed in the character
of the country was that the colour of the dust had
changed. As our train sped onwards through the
level uplands we saw a fine ostrich striding along
parallel with the line, as if having a race with us.
Dr. McCulloch at once seized his rifle and by a
lucky shot brought down the huge bird; the next
and greater difficulty, however, was to secure the