CHAPTER XXV 



The forests of Kenia are of hardwood. They grow 



on the lower slopes of the mountains, extending up to 



the 8,000-9,000 mark, where they are succeeded by the 



bamboos. Therefore the surface of the country they 



cover is hilly, consisting of long spur-like ridges or 



hogsbacks with steep sides separated by deep canons 



and short lateral ravines. The forest growth itself is 



of three kinds: Imagine, first, the planting of single 



great spreading trees at spaced intervals; trees in shape 



like elms, maples, or beeches, but three or four times 



their size. Fill in the spaces between them with a very 



thick growth of smaller trees — one hundred feet high 



and a foot or so through. Then below that a leafy 



undergrowth, so dense as to be literally impenetrable 



to either sight or locomotion. This undergrowth is of 



many varieties. It puts out big leaves, small leaves; 



grows on hard stems, watery soft stems; it stands a foot 



high or forty — generally both. Vines of all sizes tie it 



together; vines ranging in size from little tough ones as 



small as a whipcord through which you think you can 



push easily (you cannot!) up to big cables. Underfoot 



are ferns. Along the slanting trunks of trees grow 



other ferns and damp mosses. Streamers of moss de- 



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