CH. XII] MOUNT KENIA: NAIROBI 319 



tablelands are merely modified forms of the mammals 

 of the adjacent lowlands, which have gradually crept up 

 the slopes, changing in the process. High on Mount 

 Kenia, for instance, are hyraxes, living among the snow- 

 fields, much bigger than their bretln-en of the forests 

 and locky hills below ; and liglit-coloured mole-rats, 

 also much bigger than those of the lower country. 

 Moreo^'er, tlie lack of seasonal change is probably 

 accountable for differences in the way that the tree 

 zones are delimited. 'IMie mountain conifers of America 

 are huge trees on the middle slopes, but higher up 

 gradually dwindle into a thick, low scrub, composed of 

 sprawling, dwarfed individuals of the same species. On 

 Moimt Kenia the tree zone ceases much more abruptly 

 and with much less indi\ idual chanije amoii"' the dif- 

 ferent kinds of trees. Above this zone are the wet. 

 cold downs and moors, with a very peculiar \ egetation, 

 plants which we know only as small flowering things 

 having become trees. The giant groundsel, for instance, 

 reaches a lieight of twenty feet, with very thick trunk 

 and limbs, which, though hollow, make good firewood ; 

 and this is only one example of the kind. 



At Nairobi we learned, as usual, of incident after 

 incident w'hicli liad happened among our friends and 

 acquaintances of exactly the type which would occur 

 were it possible in North America or Eiu'ope suddenly 

 to mix among existing conditions tlie men and animals 

 that died out some hundreds of thousands of years ago. 

 In a previous chapter 1 mentioned on one occasion 

 meeting at dinner three men, all of whom had been 

 mauled by lions ; one being our host, Mr. F. A. Ward, 

 who had served as a Captain in the South African War, 

 and was now one of the heads of the Boma Trading 

 Company. .Vinong our fellow-guests at this dinner 



