After Leaving The Kasai, We Entered Upon The Extensive Level Plains
Which We Had Formerly Found In A Flooded Condition.
The water on them
was not yet dried up, as it still remained in certain hollow spots.
Vultures were seen floating in the air, showing that carrion was to be found;
and, indeed, we saw several of the large game, but so exceedingly wild
as to be unapproachable.
Numbers of caterpillars mounted the stalks of grass,
and many dragonflies and butterflies appeared, though this was winter.
The caprimulgus or goat-sucker, swifts, and different kinds of swallows,
with a fiery-red bee-eater in flocks, showed that the lowest temperature here
does not destroy the insects on which they feed. Jet-black larks,
with yellow shoulders, enliven the mornings with their songs,
but they do not continue so long on the wing as ours, nor soar so high.
We saw many of the pretty white ardea, and other water-birds,
flying over the spots not yet dried up; and occasionally wild ducks,
but these only in numbers sufficient to remind us that we were approaching
the Zambesi, where every water-fowl has a home.
While passing across these interminable-looking plains,
the eye rests with pleasure on a small flower, which exists in such numbers
as to give its own hue to the ground. One broad band of yellow
stretches across our path. On looking at the flowers which formed
this golden carpet, we saw every variety of that color, from the palest lemon
to the richest orange.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 703 of 1070
Words from 201434 to 201691
of 306638
