16 ZOOLOGICAL EESULTS OF THE EUWENZOEl EXPEDITION. 



elephant-grass begins. Small patches of forest, especially along the banks of the 

 streams, are found in this zone, and a good deal of native-cultivation is seen. The 

 elephant-grass extends to a height of 6500 feet, where the forest begins. 



B. The Forest-Zone (from 6500 to 8500 feet). 



On a clear day when the cloud rests upon the higher part of the ridge, leaving that 

 part below 10,000 ft. exposed, an instructive view can be obtained from Fort Portal. 

 The forest-belt appears as a well-defined dark band running the whole length of the 

 ridge without a break, but diminishing in breadth towards the north end until, at the 

 point where it disappears over the ridge, it is only a narrow strip about 100 yards wide 

 and a good deal mixed with bamboo. 



As one approaches the forest from below, it appears impenetrable, for the bushes 

 and lower part of the trees along the edge are overgrown with such a mass of tangled 

 creepers and rank undergrowth that further progress seems impossible without cutting 

 a way through or following one of the few native paths. Fortunately this only exists 

 along the lower edge, especially round the native-clearings. Once inside the forest it 

 is possible to walk in any direction, and only here and there is one stopped by an 

 impenetrable tangle of undergrowth. Throughout a considerable part of the forest 

 the surface of the ground is covered with ferns, through which one may walk with 

 comparative ease, and in some of the valleys patches of magnificent tree-ferns flourish. 

 In the lower parts of the forest there are many great rope-like creepers hanging from 

 the trees — in fact, the lower margin of the forest-zone, especially in the valleys, is almost 

 as tropical in appearance as the forests of Uganda and the Congo. Above 7000 ft. 

 many of the tropical forms vanish, and species of mammals and birds known only 

 from Ruwenzori begin to appear. At about 6500 ft. one first meets with lobelias 

 {Lobelia giherroa), which form such a conspicuous feature of the higher altitudes. The 

 majority of the trees are less than 2 ft. in diameter, except in the lower valleys, where 

 some fine trees are seen, notably Symphonia globulifera and Pseudocedrela utilis, the 

 latter attaining a great size and being a valuable timber-tree. The single species of 

 conifer, Podocarpus milaiijiana, which is found on Ruwenzori, appears first at about 

 7500 ft., but is most plentiful where the forest joins the bamboo-zone. 



In many places the lower margin of the forest has been cut back several hundred 

 feet by the natives in clearing the ground for cultivation. These old spaces when 

 left disused become thickly overgrown with rough grass, shrubs, scented herbs, and 

 thistles, and are favourite places for birds, especially for all the smaller Finches. 



The lower margin of the forest-belt at 7000 ft. marks, as a rule, the limit of human 

 habitations, but in the Luimi (Wimi) Valley there is a village in a large clearing in 

 the middle of the forest at 8000 ft. This, however, was the only instance observed of 

 natives living much above the lower forest-line, though most of the large open spaces 



