R«view of Rfvietc^, 1/12J0S. 



Leading Articles. 



575 



AMID SNOW AND ICE AT THE EQUATOR. 



Sir Harr\ Juhiiston contributes to the Pa'I Mall 

 Magaziih- an interesting sketch of the mountains of 

 the moon. The ascent of Ruwenzori, in Central 

 Africa, by the Duke of the Abruzzi, leads Sir Harry 

 to tell what he has known of this mountain. He 

 believes that it is the principal source of the old- 

 world legends of the mountains of the moon, its 

 .snowy peaks seen above the clouds from the torrid 

 plains below seeming something quite preternatural. 

 The legends of the mountain attained their greatest 

 consistency in the first century after Christ, but were 

 revived when Arab travellers in the seventeenth and 

 eighteenth centuries reported the existence of these 

 snow peaks of Equatorial Africa. Then learned men 

 \ disproved their existence. 



■• THE MONARCH OF AFRICAN MOUNTAINS." 



But at the same time, two missionaries of the 

 Flnglish C.M.S., Krapf and Rebmann, discovered 

 Kilimanjaro and Kenia. The former was hailed by 

 the .American poet Bayard Taylor as the monarch 

 of African mountains. Baker's " Blue Mountains " 

 were but the lower parts of Ruwenzori. Stairs and 

 Stanley guessed the snow range would reach about 

 17,500 feet. Then came Sir Harry Johnston. The 

 last altitude he and his party were able to take \dth 

 precision on the verge of the snowfields was 14,023 

 feet. He calculated Ruwenzori was about 20,000 

 feet, and so superior to Kilimanjaro, which has since 

 been fixed at more than 19,700 feet: — 



In any case it Is remarkable that such a considerable 

 amount of snow and ice should exist actually under the 

 Equator at relatively low altitudes- Evanescent snow may 

 be seen on Ruwenzori at 12.000 feet, while the present 

 writer has walked amongst blocks of half-frozen snow at 

 just over 13,000 feet. 



Ruwenzori itself is rather, he thinks, due not to 

 volcanic action so much as to a wrinkle in the 

 earth's surface : — 



It is one of the rainiest regions of the world: the upper 

 elopes must have a rainfall of nearly two hundred inches 

 per annum. Many of the foot-hills round the base are 

 partially denuded of forest, as the result of long-continued 

 agricultural operations. Above 6000 feet the permanently 

 inhabited zone almost comes to an end. and one enters a 

 magnificent tropical forest. 



GORGEOUS COLOURING. 



Sir Harry describes the wonderful flora of the 

 slopes of this mysterious mountain, and then savs : — 



Though the colour of the Alpine zone from 9500 to 13.0U0 

 feet is in general of a somewhat sombre cliaracter, with a 

 tendency to grey-green, yellow-grey and deep brown, there 

 is a certain gorgeous richness in some of its aspects when 

 examined at close quarters. For inst,ance, the trunks of 

 many dead trees are covered with enormous mantles of 

 moss, mantles that may be two feet in thickness. These 

 mosses range in tint from yellow-green to red-jjurple, being 

 often chestnut-brown, orange and crimson. Ihe short turfy 

 grass in places is bright emerald-green, and is dotted with 

 " lady's smocks," with maiive orchids, large daisies, yellow 

 buttercups, blue forget-me-nots, and other flowers of more 

 <ir lees English aspect. 



LORD ABERDEEN'S CANADIAN RANCHE. 



The Pall 'Mall ]\lagazinc contains an account by 

 Mr. Olston Black of Lord Aberdeen's ranche in 

 Okanagan Valley, in the Canadian Far West, Like 

 other Canadian Viceroys, Lord -Aberdeen has formed 

 a permanent affection for this great Colony, 



A DRY VALLEY TRANSFORMED. 



.\ branch line from the Canadian Pacific Railwav, 

 in the heart of the Rockie.s, leads to the Coldstream 

 ranche. The place is thus described: — 



The ranche occupies the greater part of a valley which, 

 before cultivation began, was a dry and barren place, the 

 hillsides thinly clad with the scanty trees of a droughty 

 land, while almost the only trees were crowded down in 

 the bottom beside the little stream. To a large extent this 

 description still holds good- Of the whole 13.197 acres 

 forming the estate, 8200 acres form the " range," where 

 nothing grows or is expected to grow, except the sparse 

 natural herbage, green for a short time in the early sum- 

 mer, but brown and dry for the rest of the year. Browu 

 and dry, but nourishing all the same. Over this hillside 

 range the cattle roajn — a little herd of nine hundred head — 

 and thrive and breed. The yearling steers are picked out 

 annually, and taken over the mountains to fatten on the 

 Albertan prairie till they are ready for transformation 

 into beef. Some 1220 acres are under timber- This leaves 

 about 3770 acres available for cultivation — ,t, (Quantity which 

 might be increased by clearing the strip of forest from 

 the bottom of the valley. As a matter of fact, only about 

 1700 acres are actually under cultivation. Last year 250 

 acres consisted of orchards. 



PROLIFIC ORCHARDS. 



In planting the orchards the ground around the 

 trees is kept clear of other growths. First one hun- 

 dred and sixty-nine apple trees are planted to the 

 acre. After five years the number is reduced by 

 half, and after another five years by yet another 

 half. The crop from the Cold.stream orchards in 

 1904 amounted to nearly one million pounds in 

 weight. Three-quarters consisted of apples, second 

 came plums and prunes ; cherries completed the 

 total. There is also a hop-garden of one hundred 

 and twenty acres, a farm proper of seven hundred 

 acres, mostly under wheat, barlev, oats and potatoes, 

 with another five hundred acres of artificial hay. 

 The population is made up from many nations and 

 Continents. The staff of experts consists mostly of 

 .Scotsmen and Canadians. The labour bill amounts 

 to jCfiioo a year. The uncertaintv of the rainfall 

 has made irrigation a necessity:- — 



By an extensive scheme of irrigation flumes and ditches, 

 bringing water from mountain tarns eight miles away, 

 large and regular production has been made practically 

 certain. No pumping is neede<i ; there is plenty of water, 

 and all that it needs is direction into proper channels. 

 Gravitation does the rest. 



Lord Aberdeen is laying out a number of twenty- 

 acre and forty-acre plots for settlers wishing to grow 

 fruit, at a price, under irrigation, of about £,}fi an 

 acre. The new landow-ners are mostly men of good 

 social .standing from the mother country. 



