396 
THE KILIMA NJARO EXPEDITION 
broken by mountainous districts or intersected by great 
rivers, extends uninterruptedly to within a short dis¬ 
tance of the eastern shores of the Victoria Nyanza—■ 
is indeed the prevailing type of scenery throughout 
Africa, for the Dark Continent is on the whole less 
forested than any other part of the tropics. But, as a 
happy contrast to this dreary “ veldt,” as it is called 
in the south, rise the magnificent mountain systems 
of Usambara, Taita, Pare, Ugweno, Kilima-njaro, 
Kiulu; not to mention other mighty ranges which 
Thomson has made known to us, and which offer from 
his description the same characteristics as those I have 
myself explored. Another break in the Nyika is 
made by the courses of perennial rivers flowing to the 
Indian Ocean, such as the Ruvu or Luvu, the Tzavo 
or Sabaki, the Tana, and a few minor streams of less 
importance. Tbe marked distinction between the out¬ 
ward aspects of the well-watered forest country on the 
banks of rivers, lakes, or amid high mountains, and the 
great rolling plains sparsely covered with stunted trees 
or thorny scrub which I call the Nyika, is carried out 
further in the races of man inhabiting either. The 
forest country on the hills or along the rivers is 
occupied by resident agriculturists, belonging prin¬ 
cipally to the Bantu family, ethnologically and lin¬ 
guistically, and the forbidding wilderness in the plains 
is ranged over by the semi-nomad, cattle-keeping 
Masai, who for the present must be regarded as 
forming an independent group in African anthro- 
pology. 
The Masai, who occupy a large portion of this dis¬ 
trict, are divided into many classes, tribes, and even 
independent nations. Some are settled agriculturists 
(called by the coast people Wa-kwavi), others are still 
