IV 



THE COUNTRY 



AJL British East Africa is volcanic. Mt. Kenia cen- 

 turies ago emptied the bowels of the earth over the 

 same, down even to within thirty miles of the coast. 

 Igneous rock shows on the surface over much of its area, 

 and where soil has accumulated digging down a few feet 

 will reveal the once molten rock, in size running from 

 a kernel of rice to two or three tons. 



At the time of this great overflow, or, better expressed, 

 when so much of the earth's interior was blown into the 

 air, to fall in showers all over what is now British East 

 Africa, Mt. Kenia blew out its whole mountain-side; 

 nevertheless, it still towers over seventeen thousand feet 

 in height and is a portentous and beautiful landmark to 

 nearly all British East Africa. 



Kilimanjaro, nineteen thousand eight hundred feet in 

 the air, just beyond the German border, presents a mass- 

 ive dome, ever covered with snow, and, kindled into 

 brilliancy by the rays of the rising or setting sun, it 

 gave us many imposing and glorious views, gorgeous in 

 their color effects. Along the coast the dense tropical 

 vegetation constitutes a jungle, but comparatively few 

 miles inland this disappears and open country ensues. 

 The slopes of Kenia and other mountains abound in 



