The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-09

country I passed through on my way to Nairobi, not infrequently kill the women of their tribe when they are charged with witchcraft, and there is record of something like forty having been mur- dered this way within the past two or eu Saars saw thase Wakau45es on the Athi plains and in and about Nairo- bi They are tall and fine looking, hav- ing V Iooly hair, rather thick lips and al most straight noses. They wear but lit tie clothing. Some of the women l saw were clad in nothing but beads. They had bead leggings reaching from their ankles almost to their knees, and bead wristbands embracing their bodies from the breast to the thighs with short bead aprons hanging down at the front. They wore wristlets consisting of about 20 coils of brass wire as thick as a lead pencil, and they had other coils of wire above and below the biceps encrcling their upper arms. They had also neck laces of wire and wire earrings, but all this failed to hide the greater part of their persons. The girls were fat, plump and well fed. and their dark brown skins had all the luster of bri- arwood pipe well oiled.
 Saving the African Forests.
 In coming from the plains over the
 
 rode for miles through the woods and had a chance to see what the British government is doing to save the forests Contrary to the general opinion this country has but little woods except in the hills, and lumber is high. A great deal of that used at Mombasa and Mai robi is brought in from Norway. and some comes from the United States. Leaving the Kikuyu hills there are a11 tp 70 rid known n the Escarpment and they extend for some distance down the sides of the Rift valley. Here in the valley itself the country is mostly pasture and there is no timber of any account In the forest region above referred to, the woods are thin. and In many places the virgin tim Der has been cleared by the Wakikuyu, who burn the ground over .in order that they may use the virgin soil for gar den patches. The government is now prohibiting this and is doing all that it can to save the trees remaining and to build up new wood lands. I met here at Navaisha an Australian who Is one of the heads of the forestry department. He tells me that the government has established nurseries at Mombasa, Nail robi, Escarpment and Landaivi. Near Mombasa they are setting out teak trees and at Nairobi they have planted a large number of acacia and eucalypti, which they have imported from Austra- lia. The eucalyptus grows well at Mai robi. I saw trees there which were sev- enty-five feet high, and that although they were only five years of age.
 The Monkeys and the Wood Lands.
 This forest manager tells me he is la boring under the greatest of dsadvan- tages in his efforts to raise new trees. He says he has to fight not only the na- tives, but also the monkeys baboons and other wnd animals. The S-oods are fun of monkeys and among them is a dog-faced baboon which grows as big as a ten-year old boy, This animal barlls like a dog and acts like a. devil. It watches the plantin' and then sneaks in at night and digs up the trees. If seeds are put in, it digs them up and bites them in two and if the trees should sprout 1t pulls the sprouts out of the ground and breaks them up and throws them away. As result the nur- series have to be watched during the day by men with guns in their hands. If the men have no guns the baboons will jump for the nearest tree and make grimaces out of tine branches, only to re- turn to their devastating work as soon as the watchmen go away. If guns are brought out the animals realize their dan ger and run for their lives. These mon keys also dig up the Indian corn planted by the Wakikuyu, and they are said to be far worse than crows and blackbirds combineV.
 FRAN4A G. CARPENTER.