WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



improvement, so greatly to the disgust of all the 

 natives we broke camp and trekked on. 



Nothing could have been more weird and uncanny 

 than the early part of that trek. Everyone seemed 

 depressed. It was, I suppose, the sense of being 

 shut in by those giant bamboos. The dull light 

 made matters infinitely worse, of course, and added 

 to the general feeling of helplessness. One seemed 

 to be up against the primitive forces of Nature, and 

 only allowed to be there on sufferance, so to speak. 



Still, it was not long before we were out of the 

 bamboos and once more on the downward grade, 

 as we had crossed the summit of the range. For some 

 time we were in thick forest, but instead of bamboos 

 we had immense trees, covered all over with what 

 looked like very fine seaweed ; at their base was dense 

 undergrowth. Then, almost before we were aware 

 of the change, we were in fine open country with a 

 beautiful mountain stream running across our path- 

 way. On examination, I was surprised to see beautiful 

 brown trout — a most refreshing sight. For this 

 thanks are due to Sir Frederick Jackson, who was the 

 first to introduce them here, with apparently great 

 success. Sir Charles Ross has now followed suit, and 

 during last year, whilst I was in Kenya Colony, he sent 

 out some millions to stock other streams, and they 

 also are doing well. 



An hour later we could see the little hill behind 



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