November 26, 1908J 



NA TURE 



109 



Quite reccnlly the I'ax Britannica has been extended 

 completely round Kcnia, though a portion of the route 

 travi:rsed Ijv Hutchins and Ross was through country 

 ranked unti'l then as hostUe, that is to say, the Mw^ru 

 country, lying on the eastern side of Kenia. A special 

 escort was provided, and no hostility of any kind was 

 experienced. The route followed comprised a journey com- 

 pletely round Kenia, and almost the whole time in the 

 Alpine reg:ion at an elevation of about 12,000 feet. Two 

 months was spent in the journey round Kenia. The object 

 of the expedition was to ascertain the exact extent and 

 value of the great forest girdle which stretches round 

 Kenia. For this purpose it was found most convenient 

 to travel at an altitude of about 12,000 feet in order to 

 avoid the tussock grass, which extends above the upper 

 forest limit, and is a serious impediment to progress in 

 the open Alpine country. The tussock grass of Kenia 

 grows in bunches 3 feet or 4 feet high and 3 feet or 4 feet 

 through, and when, in the wet season, it is covered with 

 half-frozen rain and hail, progress through it is not easy. 

 Above the tussock is a zone of shorter grass, with a 

 sufficient supply of firewood in the -trunks of the giant 

 heath. This tree. Erica arborea, marks the upper limit 

 of tree growth on the Kenia Mountain. 



Four glaciers on the western side were visited, and 

 found much as described in Mr. Mackinder's account of 

 their condition nine years ago. Scenes of extraordinary 

 Alpine beauty w'ere traversed, and Mr. Ross obtained a 

 series of photographs, which it is hoped may soon be 

 published. He had charge of the triangulation which 

 determined the boundaries of the forest, and he traversed 

 all but a small portion of the Alpine region. 



A number of weather observations were made, the chief 

 feature of which was a persistent high-level north-east 

 current at an altitude of about 20,000 feet. On Kenia 

 Mountain, between elevations of 7000 feet and 14,000 feet, 

 the atmosphere was singularly calm and serene. The 

 general air movement was towards the central snowy peak 

 by day and off it by night, exactly the reverse of what 

 one would have expected in the case of a cool, damp, 

 forest-clad mountain surrounded by dry, sun-scorched 

 plains. Below 7000 feet elevation, and on the plains away 

 from the mountain, the south-east trade wind blew strongly 

 by day from the south and east. On the northern high- 

 lands, at about 10,000 feet elevation, the climate was 

 curiously mild and equable. It was not only pleasant and 

 healthful, but e.xtraordinarily exhilarating. There was 

 little or no frost at night, and the small quantity of rain 

 that fell came mostly at night, w'hile by day the equatorial 

 sun was almost invariably screened by a thick mantle of 

 cloud. This great uninhabited plateau, so singularly beau- 

 tiful, so eminently a white man's country, suggests itself 

 naturally as the site for the future capital city of the 

 British possessions in niid-.Africa — the Bogota of the Old 

 World ! 



The whole of the Kenia .■\lpine region is healthful and 

 invigoratmg, but there is a great contrast, during at least 

 half the year, between the wet and misty southern slopes 

 of Kenia and the dry, bracing plateau countrv of northern 

 Kenia. The expedition consisted of three white men and 

 about fifty natives, and, with the exception of a few cases 

 of lung trouble among the coast natives, there was no 

 sickness, in spite of hardships which, in a less favourable 

 climate, would have told immediately. Hail was experi- 

 enced on numerous occasions ; in fact, on the wetter 

 southern side of the mountain there was a severe hail- 

 storm daily, h real snowstorm was experienced on one 

 occasion only. Then the snow fell in light flakes e.xactly 

 like a snowstorm in extra-tropical latitudes. This snow- 

 storm lasted for some hours. For some miles, too, around 

 the glaciers a light mantle of snow covered the ground, 

 but this rapidly melted under the influence of a little sun 

 and the w^armcr air which was experienced at higher alti- 

 tudes during the day. Kenia peak was bare of snow on 

 the north-eastern side, presumably on account of this com- 

 paratively warm upper current. These observations have 

 a peculiar value, since they were made at the wettest 

 time of the year — .'\pril, May, and June. The weather on 

 the southern side of Kenia was at this season a striking 

 contrast to what Mackinder and Hausberg experienced. 



NO. 2039, VOL. 79] 



During the wet season, April and May, Hutchins anJ 

 Ross found the southern side at .-Mpine altitudes dripping 

 with moisture, and the air nearly saturated with moisture 

 the greater portion of the time. There was a small por- 

 tion of the southern side of the mountain which was too 

 wet for the upper traverse, and the forest there had to be 

 inspected and mapped from below only. 



Everywhere else the forest was examined from above 

 and below, and linear sample areas of the timber measured. 

 The forest belt that encircles Kenia had been reported to 

 be interrupted on the northern side. This was found not 

 to be the case. It is practically continuous right round 

 Kenia. There is, indeed, a small break on the north-west 

 side, but so small as to be scarcely worth mentioning. 

 This break was barely eight miles long, little more, in 

 fact, than the average width of the forest belt, which was 

 found to vary from si.x to nine miles in breadth. On the 

 northern and western sides, where the forest belt was 

 thinnest, the quality of the forest was the best, it being 

 there largely composed of cedar, which is found in the 

 drier forest only. In the magnificent reach of forest fill- 

 ing up the great south-eastern bay of Kenia, Ibean 

 camphor w-as abundant, but here cedar is entirely absent, 

 and the effective thickness of the forest belt on this side 

 is reduced by a broad strip of bamboo, Arundinaria alpina. 

 In the drier parts of the mountain the bamboo belt is 

 much reduced in breadth ; it is frequently broken, and 

 sometimes absent. 



The most valuable timbers in the Kenia forest are 

 Ibean camphor on the wet south-eastern side, and cedar, 

 Juniperus procera, on the drier western and northern sides. 

 The former is no doubt a timber of exceptional value. 

 Its botanical name has not yet been determined, its flower 

 being now seen for the first time ; but cedar is a loftier 

 and far more abundant tree than camphor. It runs up 

 in straight stems to heights of more than 100 feet, and 

 a tree was measured (on northern Kenia) with a diameter 

 of nearly 12 feet. It is extremely durable, and the forest 

 was found richly stored, not only with the live timber of 

 to-day, but with the dry and still sound timber of past 

 ages. Fire does incalculable damage in these cedar forests. 

 The most abundant timber in the Kenia forest is yellow- 

 wood, Podocarpus thtinbergii, var. milanjiaiuis, a tree 

 differing little from the widespread and well-known yellow- 

 wood of South Africa. .Another yellow-wood, Podocarpus 

 t^racilior, in stature and shape has been compared to the 

 kauri of New Zealand, but this yellow-wood is but 

 sparingly represented. The finest timber is in the great 

 south-eastern Bay of Kenia, but this is largely composed 

 of hardwoods, which have not the same value as the 

 camphor, and conifers. Altogether the expedition disclosed 

 a forest of great value, and a particularly important asset 

 to a young country such as British East Africa, without 

 mineral wealth. 



THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERY CONGRESS 



AT WASHINGTON. 

 'T'HE fourth International Fishery Congress, which met 

 in Washington on September 22, and adjourned 

 sine die on September 25, is generally conceded to compare 

 well with the high standards set by its predecessors in 

 Paris, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. Although several of 

 the more important fishery nations were not represented, 

 the membership was truly international. About twenty 

 foreign countries of Europe, Asia, North and South 

 .•\merica, and Australasia were in attendance through 

 delegates of Governments, scientific bodies, and fishery 

 societies, and practically all the States of the United States 

 were officially represented. Although the place of meeting 

 and the preponderance of American membership tended to 

 accentuate the .'\merican point of view, the strength and 

 ability of the foreign delegation gave to the proceedings a 

 catholicity of expression not always observable in inter- 

 national congresses. 



The international regulations of the fisheries on the high 

 seas was the subject of considerable discussion, three 

 papers having that title being presented, respectively, by 

 Mr. Frver and Dr. Olsen, of England, and Mr. Stevenson, 

 of Washington. 



