EAST AFRICAN MOUNTAIN REGION 235 



the exuberant subtropical rain-forest. Hill rain-forests 

 occur on most of the mountains, the lower portions often 

 assuming the true selva type. Inland valleys are, in 

 many instances, extremely dry. In the Athi and Kidwani 

 valleys, extensive tracts are thinly studded with um- 

 brella-shaped acacias over a meagre carpet of low grass. 

 On the other hand, the regular park savana is exemplified 

 beautifully in the Masai and Karamoyo plains. 



The belts of altitude can be traced distinctly up the 

 four great mountain masses of the Ruwenzori, Elgon, 

 Kenya, and Kilima-njaro. On the first-named the 

 different zones are the following, with reference to the 

 Uganda side : 



ft. 



Snow 



Tree senecios and shrub lobelias, 



a loose bush up to . 14,200 



Tree-heaths up to . . . 12,000 

 Rambu forests up to . . . 10 5 000 

 Tall forests up to . . . 8,700 

 Savanna and bush up to . . 6,500 



Two conifers, the tall juniper and the podocarpus, may 

 be found in Masailand. 



Towards the south, among the hills, the vegetation 

 passes to a more uniform type of deciduous monsoon 

 forest, all varieties of which are to be seen on both 

 sides of the Nyassa and in the Shire district, south to 

 the lower Zambezi: north-eastern Rhodesia especially 

 displays several large belts of them. They reappear 

 south of the Zambezi on the hilly terraces of Umtali and 

 Barue, south to the Sabi River. 



Populations of hunters, shepherds, and agriculturists 

 are naturally intermixed amid such varied surroundings, 

 but, as usual, the hunting and pastoral tribes, being 



