Succession of land-waves crested by the dark green foliage of the
mango, and the scantier and lighter-coloured leaves of the enormous
calabash. The depressions were filled with jungle of more or less
density, while here and there opened glades, shadowed even during
noon by thin groves of towering trees. At our approach fled in
terror flocks of green pigeons, jays, ibis, turtledoves, golden
pheasants, quails and moorhens, with crows and hawks, while now
and then a solitary pelican winged its way to the distance.
Nor was this enlivening prospect without its pairs of antelope, and
monkeys which hopped away like Australian kangaroos; these latter
were of good size, with round bullet heads, white breasts, and long
tails tufted at the end.
We arrived at Kikoka by 5 P.m., having loaded and unloaded our
pack animals four times, crossing one deep puddle, a mud sluice,
and a river, and performed a journey of eleven miles.
The settlement of Kikoka is a collection of straw huts; not built
after any architectural style, but after a bastard form, invented
by indolent settlers from the Mrima and Zanzibar for the purpose
of excluding as much sunshine as possible from the eaves and
interior. A sluice and some wells provide them with water, which
though sweet is not particularly wholesome or appetizing, owing to
the large quantities of decayed matter which is washed into it by
the rains, and is then left to corrupt in it.
