58 



THE CENTRAL PllOVINCE 



" Bureau de Poste " put at the mouth of a highly developed cave-dwelliiig 

 occupied by a native official in the Tunisian Sahara. Cave-dwelling 

 in these regions has been in all probability continuous from the early 

 Stone Age, and has never developed in the direction of building, everything 

 being done by excavation, though the people inhabiting these caves are 

 practically white men of the Iberian stock. 



The vegetation on the western flanks of Elgon is very rich, and 

 quite West African in character; the birds also — parrots, turacos, hornbills, 

 pigeons — having West African affinities. A handsome pigeon (Columba 



49. EDGE OF CRATER WALL, ELGON, FROM THE EAST (OVER 13,000 FEET) 



guinea), which I here illustrate, is a common object, settling in little 

 flocks on the native plantations of grain. The scenery on the western 

 side of the mountain mass is perhaps grander and more beautiful in its 

 detail than on the other aspects. Tremendous buttresses and precipitous 

 cliffs of gleaming granite or quartz or dark basalt advance from the great 

 crater wall into the Bukedi ] Jains. A good broad path has recently been 

 made all round this western face of the mountain by an enterprising 

 Uganda chief who was placed temporarily in charge of this district. 

 From this road one obtains beautiful views of gleaming lakes and green 

 marshes in the direction of those vast backwaters of the Victoria Nile. 



