CHAP. XII THE NYIKA 223 



present throughout the whole of British East Africa. In some 

 places a steep ascent of 800 feet or so leads from the coast 

 plain to the edge of the broadest of the East African zones — 

 the great Nyika. 



Nyika (or U-nyika) is the Suahili word for the country of 

 the tribe known as the Wa-nyika, and it appears to mean either 

 "wilderness" or "lifted up." ^ It has been gradually adopted 

 for the whole of the great scrub-covered plains of East Africa, 

 of which the Wa-nyika occupy only an insignificant proportion. 

 The Nyika, in this wider sense, extends southward from 

 Somaliland, opposite Aden, across the Italian, British, and 

 German dominions in East Africa, its continuity being 

 broken only by the valleys of the six principal rivers, the 

 Shebeyli, Juba, Tana, Sabaki, Rufigi, and Rovuma. The 

 peculiar scenery of the Nyika has often been described, and a 

 good idea of its aspect can be obtained from an exquisite 

 photograph published by Paulitschke."' The soil of this zone 

 is sandy, and usually stained bright red by oxide of iron. It is 

 porous, and water is scarce except in the rainy season ; there is 

 no turf, for the grass is dry and grows in scattered tufts. The 

 higher vegetation (see pp. 286-287) consists of loose acacia 

 scrub, and of plants and trees with succulent stems and spine- 

 shaped leaves, such as the Birthwort and the Spurge. 



Rising through the Nyika, or occasionally forming its 

 western boundary, is the next zone, the " primitive mountain 

 axis " of East Africa. This is part of a chain composed of 

 very ancient rocks, which once formed the backbone of the 

 continent. It probably extended from the Drakensberg of 

 Natal to the mountains of Abyssinia, and possibly to the 

 Ababd Mountains of Egypt and the central peaks of Cyprus. 

 Its original continuity has been destroyed, as it was breached 

 by earth-movements and denudation, and it has been in places 

 buried under vast piles of volcanic materials. But the old 

 rocks continually reappear upon this line, as a series of hog's- 

 back-like ridges running from north to south. The Bura, 

 Taita, and Ongalea Mountains, the numerous " Bare Hills " 

 that rise above the Nyika in the Ukamba country, Bwinzau 



^ The etymology of the word is considered in Geog. Journ. vol. iv. (1894), p. 296. 

 - Ph. Paulitschke, Beitrdge zur Ethnographic utid Anthropologic der Somdl, Galla 

 und Haran (xZZb), pi. xiii. 



