CHAPTER XVI 
THE MAT FOBEST 
AFTER BUFFALO AT KISHOBO 
Travellers on the U.R. enjoy glimpses of equa¬ 
torial forest when, on passing Limoru, the line takes 
that headlong plunge of 1,200 ft. clown the escarp¬ 
ment into the Rift Valley. Then, after traversing the 
‘‘Equatorial Trench” by Naivasha, Elmenteita and 
Nakuru, on the opposite side there begins the other 
forest-region—that of the Mau. 
None can view these forests, even cursorily from a 
carriage-wdndow, without amazement — such is the 
density of their growth, aloft and alow. At home, 
heavy evergreen foliage above stunts, if it does not 
kill, plant-life beneath. Here both forms flourish, tier 
above tier, such is the exuberant vitality of the 
tropics. 
But it may be asked, How can animal-life exist 
amidst matted viewless jungle, and how can hunter 
penetrate ? The hunter cannot penetrate—saving only 
in limited and laborious degree; while game do not 
abide therein, except specialised forms such as the yet 
unknown forest-hog (Hylochcerus ), said to stand four 
feet in height, and the almost unknown bongo (Boocercus 
euryceros )—neither yet shot by white man. 1 
The Mau forests are, nevertheless, a chief stronghold 
of the East-African buffalo. These, however, live, not 
in the forest-depths—though they utilise them for 
shelter and refuge by day—but upon the “ opens ” that 
1 See subsequent notes on this subject in Chapter XXIV. 
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