264 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XX 
their huts (Weule). The little girls of the Masai make 
their dolls from this fruit. Some native tribes use the 
fruit to make bottles, pans, cups, ladles, and other 
domestic articles. The wood is sometimes employed to 
make frames for drums. The natives of Central Africa 
hollow out the fruit and use it as a mouse-trap and bait 
it with roasted maize or ground-nuts ; a noose arranged 
at the mouth of the trap is kept open by a bent stick 
(Werner). Schweinfurth expressed the opinion that the 
Kigelia in appearance may bear comparison with a 
majestic oak. It occupies the place of nut trees, such 
as the walnut aud chestnut. 
An interesting feature of the flora of British East 
Africa is the number of European plants it contains. I 
was surprised in the Kikuyu country to find brambles, 
blackberries, clover, forget-me-nots, clematis, geranium, 
heath, ranunculus, violets, thistle, St. John’s-wort, 
bracken, rue, and the stinging-nettle. 
The tall trees commonly referred to as cedars and 
used extensively for fuel on the railway are junipers ; 
they have tall, straight trunks, and grow to a height of 
one hundred feet. The presence of so many forms of 
northern plants in the equatorial tracts of East Africa 
was a subject of comment by Sir J. D. Hooker in his 
interesting remarks, which form an appendix to 
Thomson’s account of his journey through Masailand. 
Many of the trees growing on the island of Mombasa 
and the adjacent coastlands have been introduced by the 
Arabs. This refers to such trees as the Mango, 
Papaw, Jack-fruit, orange, lemon, pomegranate, and 
pine-apple. 
The presence of so many species of plants in the 
highlands of East Africa common to northern countries, 
especially Europe, may in part be explained by the 
migration of birds. That birds play a part in the 
dispersal of seeds has long been recognised. Seeds, 
especially those invested by a hard capsule, will germin¬ 
ate after passing through the alimentary canal of birds. 
