AND THE RUDOLF BASIN 



33 



iicacias ?o cliiii-aeteri.stic of" Afi-ican iiiountain.s at about 0,000 feet in 

 altitude. Below these he will skirt grassy downs, and will notice in the 

 ravines and stream valleys the emerald-green ornamental foliage of the 

 wild banana and the graceful fronds of the wild date palm. Then, at a 

 lower descent still, comes downright tro})ical vegetation where the ground 

 is suitable. If he can quit the railway, and wander away from the line 

 to the l)lack ]>atches of forest about the streams, he would enter many a 

 lovely bower, wlierein dense foliage overhead i)roduces shade that appears 

 black in compaiison with the dazzling sunlight outside. As the valley 



27. NEAR THE MAU SUMMIT, UGANDA RAILWAY 



liroadens and broadens, and reaches down almost to the level of the 

 Victoria Nyanza, there are sluggish, muddy rivers flowing through a 

 <ountry that easily degenerates into marsh. Here you reach the first 

 ha])itations of native man — or did before the construction of the Uganda 

 l-vailway revolutionised all this part of Africa. Until within three years 

 ago there were no resident settled natives dwelling along this line of 

 route, no natives from whom food could be purchased between Kikuyu, 

 -200 miles away to the east, and these first outlying villages of the coast 

 population round the Victoria Nyanza. 



The people inhaliiting these settlements will be probably for a year or 

 VOL. I. 3 



