286 FORESTRY IN THE CROWN COLONIES. 



L. KENYA COLONY. 



(See Sketch Map on p. 203.) 



Kenya Colony is situated between latitude 4 soutli and 4 north.. 

 It comprises an area of 245,000 square miles and has an estimated 

 population of 2,652,000 people, giving an average density of 

 11 per square mile. 



1. General Notes on the Country. 



Tojjography. — Along the coast on the east a fertile belt 10 to 

 20 miles wide is found, which comes under the influence of the 

 moisture-laden sea winds. This is followed, on going west, by 

 a belt with an elevation between 600 and 1,500 feet ; then comes 

 a good extent of country between 1,500 and 3,000 feet, and the 

 rest of the country is situated at an elevation over the latter 

 height, running up to about 6,000 feet in the north-western part, 

 and a maximum height of 12,880 feet in the south-west. It then 

 drops down steeply into the Rift valley to 6,000 feet and rises 

 again sharply to the Mau mountain on the west and an elevation 

 of 10,000 feet ; after that the country drops gradually to 3,300' 

 feet at Lake Victoria. 



There are two isolated mountain masses. Mount Kenya, 

 17,040 feet, on the east of the Rift, and Mount Elgon, 14,140 feet, 

 to the west, only one-half of the latter being within the Colony. 

 To the north, the country falls away towards Abyssinia, being 

 very sparsely watered and assuming the character of a desert. 



The slopes of Mounts Kenya and Elgon and of the mountains 

 on either side of the Rift valley are covered with forest which are 

 the most important in the country. 



There are no large navigable rivers. Tana and Juba, the two 

 most important, are navigable for shallow draft boats for a few 

 months in the year. The fertile part of the country is watered 

 by numerous small streams which have their sources in the 

 mountain forests or above them. 



Climate.^[h.e climate is essentially tropical, there being no 

 marked seasons of summer and winter ; the growth of vegetation 

 is limited only by dry weather conditions, and nearly all the trees 

 are evergreen. Apart from elevation, the temperature is equal, 

 and there are no extremes of heat or cold. The mean annual 



