CHAPTER XVI 



THE MAU rOKEST 

 AFTER BUFFALO AT KISHOBO 



Travellers on tlie U.E. enjoy glimpses of equa- 

 torial forest whew, on passing Limoru, the line takes 

 that headlong plunge of 1,200 ft. down the escarp- 

 ment into the Rift Valley. Then, after traversing the 

 "Equatorial Trench" by Naivasha, Elmenteita and 

 Nakuru, on the opposite side there begins the other 

 forest-region — that of the Man. 



None can view these forests, even cursorily from a 

 carriage-wdndow, without amazement — such is the 

 density of their growth, aloft and alow. At home, 

 heavy evergreen foliage above stunts, if it does not 

 kill, plant-life beneath. Here both forms flourish, tier 

 above tier, such is the exuberant vitality of the 

 tropics. 



But it may be asked, How can animal-life exist 

 amidst matted viewless jungle, and how can hunter 

 penetrate ? The hunter cannot penetrate — saving only 

 in limited and laborious degree ; while game do not 

 abide therein, excej)t specialised forms such as the yet 

 unknown forest-hog (Hylochcerus), said to stand four 

 feet in height, and the almost unknown bongo (Boocei^cus 

 euryceros) — neither yet shot by white man.^ 



The Mau forests are, nevertheless, a chief stronghold 

 of the East- African bufl'alo. These, however, live, not 

 in the forest-depths — though they utilise them for 

 shelter and refuge by day — but upon the " opens" that 



^ See subsequent notes on this subject in Chapter XXIV. 



186 



