XVIII 



THE CRATERS OF THE RIFT VALLKY 



SOON after leaving the Island of Mombasa by the 

 Uganda Railway, the traveller will realise that he is in 

 a volcanic district. The brick-red earth and the char- 

 acter of the rocks exposed in the railway cuttings 

 indicate that the soil is the result of the disintegration 

 of lava. All doubts on this matter will be removal 

 when passing through the forest regions north of 

 Nairobi, the train suddenly comes to the edge of the 

 Kikuyu escarpment, and he looks directly into the Rift 

 Valley, one of the most remarkable physical features of 

 Eastern Ethiopia. 



In order to appreciate the character of the Rift Valley 

 it is necessary to realise that the British East Africa 

 and Uganda Protectorates represent an area of some- 

 thing more than 500,000 square miles. The coastlaixls 

 of this enormous territory are low : on leaving the coast 

 the land rises in a series of plateaus until a broad zone 

 of high ground is reached, varying in height from 6,000 

 to 8,000 feet. This zone is often spoken of as the 

 Highlands of East Africa. This high plateau, which 

 presents remarkable evidence of stupendous volcanic 

 action, is furrowed by a gigantic trench known as the 

 Rift Valley. Projecting around the margins of this 

 high tableland there are three enormous mountains 

 crowned with perpetual snow: Kilimanjaro (19,321 ft.) 

 in German Territory; Ruwenzori (16,6 19 ft.) on the 

 Congo side ; and Kenia (17,000 ft.) in the east. There 

 are isolated smaller mountains such as Elgon, Longonot, 



