RUWENZORI AND ITS SXOWS 175 



instrument. A portion of one's road up the mountain lies for perhaps 

 two miles over a constant succession of prone tree-trunks. P'or ages 

 past tree after tree in this wintry-looking forest has fallen from old 

 age or in storms, to lie prone where it fell, apparently without insects 

 to turn its wood to powder. On the contrary, this wood becomes hard 

 like bog-oak, and is covered with this thick grow^th of moss. But the 

 moss makes these tree-trunks most deceptive and dangerous to step on, 

 as it is so lightly attached that it !slips away from under the foot, and 

 the incautious traveller may fall and hurt himself most cruellv against 

 the jagged branches of the trees, which have been turned to a flinty 

 hardness, l^ut these mosses give one a perfect feast of colour. They 

 range in tint from lemon-yellow u]) through all the gamut of yellows 

 and lirowns to a deep rich red, a red which at times has almost a purple 

 tinge. Sometimes the moss is an emerald-green, and the limbs of the 

 same tree may display every shade ranging between purple-red and 

 grass-green, a large proportion of the colours being shades of orange 

 and yellow. Yet the forests of this cold zone of Kuwenzori at a distance 

 fuse their tints into rather a di-eary tone of drab-green, and the long 

 streamers of the greenish white Usnea give the vegetation a singularly 

 dismal aspect. It is, perhaps, at about 9,000 feet that the European 

 traveller feels most at home, and at that altitude many of the flowers, 

 and not a few of the tr-ees and ferns, recall to him the woods of his own 

 country. 



Leopards ascend the mountain to the very verge of the snow, and 

 we actually found a leopard's footprints in the snow at 13,400 feet. The 

 tracks of a large serval cat, probably the servaline, were found at 

 12,500 feet. There are two kinds of hyraxes on Kuwenzori at least, if not 

 more, and they also ascend to the snow-line. Bats were found up to 

 13,000 feet. Chameleons were found up to 11,000 feet, and a whitish 

 moth fluttered about over the snow. A large eagle owl was seen, but 

 not secured, at an altitude of 13,000 feet; and at this height a common 

 bird was a kind of starling with a fan-shaped tail, very similar to one 

 which we saw and obtained at 7,000 feet on ]Mount Elgon. We saw 

 elephants on Kuwenzori, Init not higher than 7,000 feet. ^lonkeys do 

 not appear to go above 9,000 feet. A few rats were obtained not far 

 from the snow-line, and francolin, very partridge-like in appearance, were 

 met with as high as 13,000 feet. 



The rocks in many places are very micaceous. In some of the caverns 

 which are to be described farther on, the overhanging roof of rock was like 

 tarnished silver, and had much the appearance of the beautiful aluminium 

 ceiling to be seen at Sir Alma Tadema's house at St. John's Wood. A 

 good deal of granite crops out between 10,000 and 11,000 feet. IMany 



