CHAP. V TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT NDI 71 



shambas of the Wa-taita. Only a few months previously the 

 natives had quarrelled with a European caravan ; they had 

 dammed up the stream, and so cut off the water supply from 

 the camp below. For this they had been so severely punished 

 that I felt doubtful as to my reception. I found them, how- 

 ever, in a most friendly mood. They loaded my two men with 

 presents of cobs of green maize, pumpkins, and sugar cane, and 

 gave me a few eggs. The terrace beside the village com- 

 manded a good view of the upper part of the ridge, and I was 

 thus able to decide on the best route to the summit. The 

 headman of the village lent me two men as guides. A sharp 

 walk soon brought us to the ridge, and we went southward 

 along it, until at half-past eleven we reached the margin of the 

 clump of trees upon the summit. The guides and my own 

 men refused to go farther, as they said the wood was the abode 

 of evil spirits and they dared not enter. I left them to light a 

 fire, while I pushed on through the shrubs alone. This, how- 

 ever, was a waste of time, except in as far as it satisfied my 

 climbing conscience. There was no view from the summit, and 

 I had to make my sketches and observations from the edge of 

 the wood. We boiled the water for the thermometers, and 

 obtained data from which I subsequently calculated the altitude 

 at 5640 feet. 



I was interested to find a dense growth of the common 

 English bracken on the higher part of the ridge. I did not 

 like to accept it as the same species without a close examina- 

 tion, and tore up some feet of the long underground stem (or 

 rhizome) to see if I could detect any difference in this part of 

 the plant. While doing so I came upon a striking case of 

 mimicry ; an insect that lives among the dead leaves below the 

 bracken so exactly resembled them in colour and in form that 

 I should not have noticed it, had it not moved when I began 

 to scrape away the soil. 



During the descent we kept farther along the ridge to the 

 north until we reached a col, which appeared white when seen 

 from a distance. We found that both the depression and the 

 colour were due to a reef of quartz which cropped out there. 

 This was so brittle that it wore away more rapidly than the 

 tougher rocks on either side. We were then compelled to beat 

 a hasty retreat owing to the threatening aspect of the weather. 



