NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 109 



center of trade in very ancient times, goods from the Land of Punt 

 (Somaliland) in the early Egyptian period reaching Mount Elgon to 

 be traded for the products of the negro forest-dwellers. The blue beads 

 dug up here, and which are regarded as great rarities, seem to be of 

 ancient Egyptian origin, the subjects of the Pharaohs appearing to 

 have extended their commerce to this remote region. 



A common feature of the terraced slopes of Mount Elgon are its 

 splendid waterfalls, the streams cascading beautifully from the brink 

 of the terraces and in nearly every instance covering the entrance to a 

 cave. It may be that the cavern was originally the channel of a stream 

 which became blocked by an overflow of lava from the crater's lip, the 

 stream taking a new course over the cooled lava while its former canyon 

 became a cavernous opening. 



We may, passing behind a cascade which leaps down and out 

 two hundred feet from the brink of the terrace, find hidden behind it 

 the doorway to a dry and commodious natural rock dwelling. The 

 stream thus completely masked the dwellings of the ancient cave-man 

 from without. Instances may be found in which a rude stockade de- 

 fends the entrance, huge stones being piled on top of branching boughs. 

 We have reason to believe that the antique cave-men of Europe de- 

 fended the openings to their habitations in this manner, and we here 

 find the ancient people of Africa adopting the same methods. 



Sir Harry Johnston, in his very interesting paper, "Where Roose- 

 velt Will Hunt," gives us the following information about the people 

 of the region we have been describing. It is well worth quoting as a 

 vivid picture of a series of strange native tribes : 



''The human inhabitants of this part of East Africa mainly belong 

 to the fine, handsome Masai race and the peoples of Nandi and Suk 

 stock (closely allied in racial origin to the Masai), while in the coast 

 regions bordering the Victoria Nyanza there are a few Nilotic and 

 Bantu negroes. 



"The Suk natives of the northern part of the Rift Valley, south- 

 west of Lake Rudolf, wear no clothes, but devote considerable atten- 

 tion to their hair. It is thought an unwomanly thing for the Suk 

 women to have hair on the head. The men, however, encourage the 

 hair to grow. When the father of a family dies his head-hair is divided 



