Lizzy+B

Febuary 26th-(Sunday)-Ndelele

9 P.M.- I recieved a punch in my ribs, the appointed signal. I crawled over to my gun, got it and sat on a seat and looked out. There was the great king of beastes head upright, a huge fellow and he commeced eating that donkey as if it were really hungry. A call in whispers of 1, 2, 3, and Donald [Bixby's son] ansd I fired as one shoot. There was a big "woof" and a roar and he ran around the the corner. We could hear him grunting... and he was dying but a wounded lion is a bad thing to play with. After a while...we decied to let it go until morning. Early in the morning, we followed the trail and soon came to the dead lion. The hyenas had eaten his tail, part one one leg and side but the head and feet were still intact and at last we had our first lion, a big male, and most satisfactory. His head is in fine condition and we haved saved all his hide, though in three pieces,and his claws.... the lion had two extra toes.

March 3rd:

Then up the steep slope again, obtaining from the top of one of the most beautiful views of plains and mountains that I know of. Then on... Into Nairobi at 1:30 p.m. We left our camp at 10:00 a.m. We found a hearty welcome and soon were cleaned up and dressed again in the garments of civilization. Thus, ended almost a month of our outdoor life under conditions that are passing so rapidly that they will soon be ancient history. i have the floating bone, or the trophy bone, or a big lion and two of my leopards to prove it is real Mt. Ciswa and Ndelele will never be forgotton.

March 5th-Donyo Sabuk

From the other side of The house you can see Mt. Kenya. Mt. Donya Sabuk has patches of great green forests with enormous trees where the herds of buffalo live. Then there are great patches of bright green that look liek grass but they are wild current bushes, higher than a man's head. there is an old legend connected with the mountain. Long, long ago, the Kikuyus owned and occupied the mountain; later, the Wakmbos took it from them but the old legend is that there is an enormous cave on the mountain with a narrow entrance and when the Masai or the Wakambo attacked in large numbers they fled to this cave, which was large enough to take them and their cattle and goats inside; they always kept food in there fior themselves and their cattle and a big spring of water gave them the only other necessity.A former owner claimed to have found the cavebut would never tall where it wasand he was killed during the war. There have been lots of dimonds on the proprtyand there are quantitiyes of garnet and white sapphires there. It was about half covered of patches of forests on top, or high up on the sidesand thwe other side with bright green currants and grass. This looks like a brown velvet carpet now, but in rainy season in a bright green grass four or five feet high. At present there are three distinct colors- the wood a dark greena nd in certain hours of the day,black, the currants a bright green all the time, and the brown grass which ocuppies more than half of the mountian. of course, on the slpoes are the usuall single trees and on the plains at the foot of the grass occasiona ltrees and much game.

march 8th-(thursday)-donyo sabuk and on road to Nyreri via Fort Hall

we left Donyo Sabuk at 8:30 and crossed many rivers, among them the Athi, Theka, Choka, etc. we stopped at a sisal[plant fiber for twine or rope] factory and saw them passing in the leaves of sisal and cleaning ,drying, and baling product. passed several plantations of over 1500 acres of sisal

all along the way we had beautiful view of mt. Kenia, with its snow crown and the one sharp peak, apperantly higher than any part, but no snow for this peak is so exposed snow won't stay there. Most of the way from Fort Hall to Nyeri we were in the heart of the Kikuyus we went up hill and down hill around sharp curves,- a great piece of engineering and road in very good condition. i think we saw on the 200 miles we drove 100,000 natives; all were clothed, unless some babies and some very lightly but more than our Lumbwa had on the safari. these people evedently love the mountains and valleys and while they have much land on the plains they live on the hillsides and along the streams. as they live largley on fruits and vegetables, they cultivate a great deal of ground and many mealies[maize, inddian corn]and bananas espeialy. they have in each little garden a patch a small seat covered with thatch to protecte the party sitting there from the sun. the women spade and cultivate and harvest the crop but then the men do their part;they sit under the thatcthed spot to keep the brids away-a real disision labor. most of the women have a baby on their backs etc. on their backs besides the baby. for they have wood and bananas, it was starnge to see how little square patcthes on the hillside could be cultivated at all. they burn off the grass and brush and then pick the ground with a bi hoe and a kind of pick axe. they then cultivate every little piece along the water courses.