THE FOREST BELT 167 



perienced. The bamboos are usually about 40 feet in height 

 and from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and are often packed 

 together so closely that it is impossible to force a way between 

 them. At the height of from i o to 15 feet from the ground 

 they branch repeatedly, and their long grass-like leaves interlace 

 into a dense canopy of vegetation. Above this the trees give 

 off broad-spreading branches, which are connected by lianas 

 and other climbing plants into a second roof of vegetation. A 

 mist hung over the forests during the whole time we were in 

 them, and kept the vegetation sodden with moisture, and made 

 the mossy soil as saturated as a sponge. 



Through this dark and dismal forest we had to force a 

 way. Occasionally an elephant path would run in our direction, 

 and we could then make comparatively rapid progress, delaying 

 only to lop off the lower branches of the bamboos, to cut 

 through fallen stems, or to climb over dead tree trunks. The 

 elephants, however, did not obey the rules of mountaineering, 

 and their tracks soon ran down into the valleys, so that most 

 of the way we had to cut a path step by step. Every blow of 

 our matlocks upon the bamboos shook the sodden canopy 

 overhead, and continual shower-baths of water kept us wet 

 and miserable. My clothes were soon soaked through, while 

 the raw, damp cold chilled the porters to the marrow. We 

 had to stop every hour to light fires to warm them, and even 

 then they found the climate almost unbearable, and one or two 

 cried like children. 



We trusted by hard work to traverse the forest belt in two 

 days, for I was anxious to spend only one night within it. 

 But, as we soon saw, this hope was vain. On the evening of 

 the second day we had to pitch camp on a slope, where 

 the bamboos were so dense that we had to clear every foot 

 of ground we wanted, while it was so swampy, that we 

 had to spread out the bamboos as a platform on which to 

 support the tents. I went some distance farther, to try to find 

 a better place, and so knew that we were still in the heart of 

 the bamboo zone ; but even then I was not prepared for the 

 revelation made by the boiling - point thermometers in the 

 evening, that, despite all our efforts, we had only risen 1 700 

 feet in two days. Determined not to lose a moment's time next 

 morning, Omari, Fundi, and I went ahead at daybreak to cut 



