BAMBOOS 85 



kind of vegetation to another. Above the tropical 

 forest, which extends to about 8,000 feet, is a more 

 or less constant zone of bracken and giant heath- 

 trees, and above this, with at first a sprinkling of 

 Podocarpus* and other large trees, begins the 

 zone of bamboos, which are found growing up to 

 1 1 ,000 feet, though their densest growth occurs 

 between 9,000 and 10,000 feet. After leaving the 

 big rock, Vitaba, the track plunged almost at once 

 into the bamboos, and the difficulties of the march 

 began. It was hard enough for the unburdened 

 European to struggle and wriggle between the 

 unyielding stems, but how the Bakonjo, with one 

 hand supporting the loads on their heads and the 

 other grasping a big stick, managed to find a way- 

 through passed all understanding. A semblance of 

 a path had been made by cutting out a bamboo 

 here and there, but the cut stems, which generally 

 found their way across the track, and the fallen 

 leaves mixed up with mud on a steep slope, made 

 the going about as bad as can be imagined, and 

 progress was deplorably slow. 



There is a small crater lake high up in the 

 bamboo forest, which two of us visited one day. 

 There was not even a vestige of a track leading 

 anywhere near it ; in fact, it was a place that the 

 natives studiously avoided, and those whom we took 

 with us could hardly be induced to approach it. 

 The bamboos were so thick that we could not force 

 * Podocarpus milanjiana. 



