The Latookas Assured Me That At The Foot Of Those Mountains There Were
Elephants And Giraffes In Abundance; Accordingly, I Determined To Make A
Reconnaissance Of The Country.
On the following morning I started on horseback, with two of my people
mounted, and a native guide, and rode through the beautiful valley of
Latooka to the foot of the range.
The first five or six miles were
entirely de-pastured by the enormous herds of the Latookas who were
driven to that distance from the towns daily, all the country in the
immediate vicinity being dried up. The valley was extremely fertile, but
totally unoccupied and in a state of nature, being a wilderness of open
plains, jungles, patches of forest and gullies, that although dry
evidently formed swamps during the wet season. When about eight miles
from the town we came upon tracks of the smaller antelopes, which,
although the weakest, are the most daring in approaching the habitations
of man. A few miles farther on, we saw buffaloes and hartebeest, and
shortly came upon tracks of giraffes. Just at this moment the inky
clouds that as usual had gathered over Tarrangolle came circling around
us, and presently formed so dense a canopy that the darkness was like a
partial eclipse. The thunder warned us with tremendous explosions just
above us, while the lightning flashed almost at our feet with blinding
vividness. A cold wind suddenly rushed through the hitherto calm air;
this is the certain precursor of rain in hot climates, the heavier cold
air of the rain-cloud falling into the stratum of warmer and lighter
atmosphere below.
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