Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-04
WITH ROOSEVELT IN AFRICA
some Features of Hunting Grounds
ana JungleH the President
VIII Visit.

Neither king nor prince ever planned such
an expedition as our next ex-presidcnt has
planned for the big aunt for big game in
Africa.
The greatest variety Of sport is to be
had in the "Thorns." a most extraordinary
sUnken valley, 1900 or 1900 miles in ex-
tent, through which the Moot, the Tugela
and other smaller rivers rum. The whole
OF II Is covered with dense bush, the hills
enclosing. it being open grass. The depth
Of the valley is from 1000 to 1000 feet, and
in many places the surrounding hills show
perpendicular faces 1000 feet in height. In
all places the descent Is exceedingly abrupt.
A stranger riding the road from say, Grey
town to the Biggarsburg, would be cantcr-
Ing along the fairly level summit of a high,
grassy ridge which seemed likely to con-
tinue for mny miles, when he would be
suddenly pulled up at the very edge of a
precipice, and in a single second would be
revealed to him this wonderful and unsus-
pected valley, and he would stand gazing
over a vast tumbled sea OF forest far
down below him, and in the blue distance
the enclosing hills on the northern. side.
We ave the atmospheres in America.
but how blue the distances are in Africa
none can conceive who has not seen them.
The story about the stranger in Colorado
who thought he would take a stroll before
breakfast from his hotel in Denver to
Pixies Peak and back will always remain
a classic. In Australia the same phe-
nomenon has caused the chief range Of
elevations to be called the Blue noun
taips. Our president, standing under
Bothas Castle in the "Thorns,' will wit
ness a truly extraordinary spectacle. The
valley is not flat, like that in the Amas-
wazi country, or like the Kalihari bush
as seen from the Shoshong, but is broken
up in a number of low ridges, with one
central rib Of considerable elevation. Bush,
bush, bush, nothing but bush wherever
the eye roams, all aglow in blue and pur-
pie haze, and rolling away in great pillows
like an angry sea in the roaring forties.
lien steps down and our president will
be in another climate. He bids farewell
to the fresh. bracing breezes Of the grassy
bills and the life-giving mountain air,
Nothing now but dry, burning, dusty heat,
th~ick-tangled bush-mimosas, f~lat-topped,
round-topped pyramidal. all ablaze with a
gorgeous clothing of golden, pink, white
or scarlet knobs, filling the air with an
all too powerful sweetness; euphorbias,
lifting aloft their strange, ghostly-looking
dTtIlHt SpIlb IuEBtu anu Spllt-CuNtTtu
others as round and smooth as a pipe
stem; prickly aloes, some tall and up
right, others bushy and struggling, but all
vivid with bouquets of scarlet blossoms,
rough-trunked olives, glossy-leaved wild
coffee. bedecked with scarlet berries; thick,
juicy-leaved succulent plants. throwing out
sprays Of yellow and red flowers, and a
thousand and one varieties OF flower and
fvnif- han RING traaa oil iptaPf uinp1 with
clematis, jasmine, ivy-leaved geraniums,
convolvulus and other beautiful creepers,
Lower and lower every step. hotter and
hotter every mile, until at the bottom our
president will be painting for breath and
exclaiming Bully" At the foot o. a for
midable precipice 100 feet high, he will
see pieces of rock of all sizes continually
falling and clashing into the valley. This
Is the home of hundreds of enormous bah
oons as large as ~chimpanzees. Perhaps
the hero of San Juan hill will see one
walking deliberately across his patch sup
porting himself upon a stick. Great eagles
have their eyries among the rocks and
may be seen floating about at vast heights,
dark specks upon the vaulted blue. on
the summit of Mount Allard, 5000 feet high,
will be seen a little white spot-the bunga-
low Of a famous East Indian. Roosevelt
may lunch with the owner. The singing
heat agrees with insect life, for the air is
full of winged creatures Of every descrip-
ton, from great dragon flies and huge
gaudy butterflies to the tiniest midgets and
sand flies, while on the ground crawl mil
lions of centipedes, sometimes eight inches
long and as thick az your finger, and many
scorpions, tarantulas and lizards.
But the life in the 'Thorns" is not all
n~oxious. Brilliant birds OF scores of spe-
cies fit about, conspicuous among them
being the glorlously jeweled humming birds
and honeysuckers. Guinea fowls scuttle
across the road in flocks numbering hun
dreds. Delicious eating! Francolins whirr