Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-08-29
AFRlcA's CAVE JEWELLERS.
opagin of Which Is shrouded in Mystery.

Mai. Powell-O0tton, of the British service, has been taking fash-light pictupes of the interior of one of the Inhabited caves on the slopes of Mount Mgon, a large mountain near the northwest coast of ta-Nyanza, in central Africa, says a London report.
 The best of his views shows a num- Der of reed huts thak have been scat tered irregularly over the wide floor, their tops extendtng to within about three feet of the black wall above them. Wicker baskets and other uten- sils of the household are sprinkled here and there, and large masses of rock. harder than most of the stone that was dug away to make the subterran- can home, jut out into the big room, filling 1t with corners and recesaes.
 His visit was to the east side of tha mountain. All sides of 1t have now been visited, and the west, south and east slopes are found to be dotted with these inhabited caves. some of which have been dug at an elevation of 7,6o0 feet.
 Perhaps no other mountain has a similar title to distinction. It's top, even under the tropical sun. nearly reaches the snow line, and it's green sides are indented with deep pockets the homes of many hundreds of human beings.
 Powell Cotton says there is no doubt that the whole inside surface of these caves was hewn by the hand of man, but the present owners are quite in capable of having executed so stupen- dous task They have no tradition as to who the makers were. The ex- plorer thinks systematic examination of considerable number of the caves might throw an interesting light on their original inhabitants.
 Some of the visitors to Mount El- gon believe that they are natural caves. They say they found no evidence that the caverns could possibly be the work of man.
 They also report that years ago the natives lived on the plains in ordi- nary villages, using the caves al enemies, until they finally made them their permanent abode.
 The more scientific explorers, on the other hand, say there is no mis- take about the caves being of artificial origin. Joseph Thomson, who discov- cred them, said that they were cut out of compact volcanic agglomerate, and l he believed that they were mines in | some past age
 | The works were evidently too vast I to be achieved by the simple savages | hN iy,I pH To dered what superior race could for | merly have occupied that region. Sir Harry Johnston also says that there is no possibility that the caves could have been artificial.
 These two explorers, as well as Powell Cotton, speak of the interior o1 the caves as being very irregular, as the harder part of the rock has beer left jutting out in most inconvenient corners, while the softer stone was GU away.
 Powell Cotton made an entirely new discovery, north of Mount Elgon, O tribe living on the tops of twt l mountains in two-story houses N nuts of any kind have hitherto beer reported among the barbarous tribel of Africa
 It is possible that they conceived tn, idea of the two-story house to provid, more room in their habitations, for as they live on the tops of the noun .tains, they cannot give much space t, their dwellings without encroachinl upon their titled lands Almost unde the equator, they succeed in raisin, crops on the very summits of higl mountains.