24 



THE EASTERN PROVINCE 



obliged at all costs to gain the suiniiiit of these forested heights; for the 

 northern and western slopes of the Elgeyo Escarpment are inhal)ited by 

 the fierce Japtuleil, the most northerly branch of that turbulent Nandi 

 race which has given its name to this plateau. They are almost the only 

 people in these regions at tlie present day actively hostile to Europeans. 



The scenery of the Elgeyo Eift Valley is very grand, especially when 

 seen from above. I have stood at one point near the north-western edge 

 of the Elgeyo Escarpment and looked down a sheer 5,000 feet on to a 

 gleaming river which threaded its way through a lake and numerous pools. 



19. JUXIPER-TKEES, NANDI PLATEAU 



In the upper part of the Elgeyo Valley and on the slopes of Chibcharanan 

 there is abundant forest, which, according to altitude, is of a tropical or of 

 an Abyssinian or South African character. Here, coming from the north, 

 begin those splendid forests of conifers (two species of juniper and a vew) 

 so characteristic of the ^>andi Plateau. Away to the west of Chibcharaiian 

 and Elgeyo, towards the great blue mass of Elgon, the country is of noble 

 appearance : splendid rolling downs of short rich grass, patches of woodland, 

 acacia forests, and vegetation of more trojjical appearance along the valleys 

 of the watercourses. This (jwas' Xgishu Plateau* slopes down gradually 



* So called from the Gwas' Ngishu Masai who once inhabited it. 



