THE RANGATAN 289 



allied genus forms hedges and thickets, which can only be 

 traversed at some risk ; for the spines are sharp and brittle, 

 and if they run into the flesh they break off, and deposit an 

 acrid juice which causes ulceration. The plant is useful, how- 

 ever, medicinally ; the Zanzibari, who know it by the name of 

 " mtepu," as well as the native Njempsians, chew the young 

 shoots, in order to benefit by the gently purgative properties 

 of the latex. 



The mountains that rise above the Nyika, such as those of 

 Taita and Iveti, at first sight appear to have a very different 

 flora, owing to the prevalence of woody flowering shrubs, which 

 form a dense jungle from 8 to 10 feet in height. But the 

 smaller flowering plants, which, from the point of view of 

 geographical distribution, are the more important, contain so 

 large a proportion of dwarf representatives of the plants of the 

 valleys and the plains, that it appears best to leave these 

 mountains as a subzone of the Nyika. An occasional screw- 

 pine {Paudanus) or a dragon-tree {Draccena) even remind 

 the visitor of the vegetation of the coast. The fact that the 

 peaks and the valleys have the same flora instead of a totally 

 different one, as in the case of Kilima Njaro or Kenya, shows 

 that these mountains were probably never covered by an ice-cap. 



4. The Rangatcm. — -The fourth zone is that of the " Ran- 

 gatan," the prairies of the high plateau. This zone consists 

 mainly of vast tracts of undulating moorland, covered with 

 grasses. These grow to the height of from 2 to 4 feet ; and as 

 the ears ripen and turn yellow, they give the country a certain 

 resemblance to the great cornfields of Dakota. Others, such as 

 Tricholana rosea, Nees., are tinged with a delicate brownish 

 pink, which, when seen on a distant hill-slope, reminds one of 

 a clover field on a Surrey down. Some of the most conspicuous 

 grasses on the Rangatan dL.ve—Setar-ia glauca, Beauv., Andro- 

 pogon finitimus, Hochst., Thenieda Forskalii, Hack., Sporobohis 

 indiciis, R. Br,, and Eragrostis Brownei, Nees. 



The great charm of this region consists, however, in the 

 belt of country on its borders. There, clusters of trees and 

 clumps of flowering shrubs are scattered over velvety turf, 

 forming park-like scenery of exquisite beauty. The resemblance 

 to an English park is increased by the number of plants 

 belonging to the same genera, or even species, as those of 



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