CHAPTER XVI 
IN THE TALL GRASS OF THE MOUNT ELGON COUNTRY. 
A NARROW ESCAPE FROM A LONG-HORNED 
RHINO. A THANKSGIVING DINNER AND 
A VISIT TO A NATIVE VILLAGE 
Mount Elgon is one of the four great mountains 
of Africa. You can find it on the map of the dark 
continent, standing all alone, just a little hit north 
of Victoria Nyanza, and surrounded by names that 
one has never heard of before. 
The mountain is distinctly out of the picture- 
post-card belt—in fact, the only belt that one will 
find around Elgon is the timber belt that encircles 
the mountain, and perhaps also a few that the local 
residents wear on Sundays and national holidays. 
The function of the latter class of belt is to keep 
up a gay appearance. It is worn for looks, not 
warmth. 
The traveler who goes to Mount Elgon will not 
be distracted by sounds of civilization, except such 
as he takes with him. He will travel for days 
without seeing a sign of human life beyond his own 
following. The country west of the Nzoia River is 
uninhabited and is abandoned to the elephant and 
the giraffe and other animals that care not for the 
269 
