And what an effect this movement, continued for many months over many
thousands of miles, produced on the minds of the native population,
looking on in speechless awe and amazement at the mystery of the white
man's doings! I have often stopped to wonder at the natives' state of
mind. It must have been not unlike what is told of one of my simple
countrymen, on whose farm an aviator descended with an aeroplane, never
seen or heard of before, and who calmly walked forward to shake hands
with the heavenly visitant, whom he believed none other than the Lord!
And since horses, because of the fly, are virtually unknown in most
parts of the country, the natives were dumfounded by our mounted men,
strange centaur-like animals that they called "Kabure," after my mounted
Boer forces, of whom at first they were mortally afraid. Even bodies of
well-trained armed native soldiers have been seen to throw away their
rifles and run for dear life into the bush at the first sight of mounted
men.
[Sidenote: Parallel mountain ranges rise in tiers.]
[Sidenote: The second belt or veldt.]
[Sidenote: Changes in rainfall.]
The whole east of the African continent from the cape in the south up to
Abyssinia in the north, and, I believe, farther, is marked by one
persistent feature, the existence of several more or less parallel
mountain-ranges rising in tiers from the coast. At the top of the last
and highest mountain-range lies the great elevated inland plateau,
stretching like a broad back along the continent.
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