Evening star., 1923-12-24
RAILROAD LEADS
TO MONKEY LAND
Kenya Colony Line Extension
to Pierce Uganda, Says
Geographic Society.

"A remote but exceptionally i'm
portant bit of railroad building is
the proposed extension of the Kenya
Colony line into Uganda. which will
link Mombasa with the Nile" says a
bulletin from the Washington head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society
Pushing the line seventy-five miles
beyond its present terminus, at
Turbo, will open to coastal travellers
one of the most diverse regions of
the world. from a geographic and
scenic standpoint.
The existing railroad gives ample
promise of what lies beyond. When
he entered Africa for his famous lion
hunt, the late Theodore> Roosevelt
cowcatcher and when he gave his
first lecture before the National
Geographic Society, after his return.
he said: really doubt If there is a
worth taking as that up to the .it.le
British East African capital of
Nairobi.'
Two Natural Wonders.
From the terminus of the con-
templated extension, at Jinja, the
passenger some day will emerge to
view two of the worlds notable
natural features-VictoriaN Nyanza. to
the south, and in the northern back
ground the giant Mount Elgon, with
its crater ten miles across and its
jagged rim rising to $4,000 feet
"JinJa ts-focated on the marvelously
beautiful gulf through which the
over Ripon falls and enter upon the
cascaded and swirling course of the
Victoria Nile.
These are only two of Uganda's
physical aspects, which range from
snow-capped mountains, some veiled
In heavy m1StS, to arid areas, where
rain has not fallen for periods of two
years.
I'm, the Rift valley is a curious
people. who are guiltless of clothes.
but extremely painstaking of their
hair. 1t is most unwomanly for a
Suk woman to have any hair on her
head. The men. however, let their
halr grow, and upon a fathers death
Each son weaves his into a sort OF
receptacle In which he places his
snuf box, ornaments and other
valuable trinkets.
Remnants of Stone Age.
Sir Harry Johnston tells of an
other tribe. the Andorobo, who
wander among dense forests and
These Andorobo reproduce in a most
striking, manner the life which we
may suppose to have been led by
our far-away ancestors in the earliest
stone ages. They lead, in fact. very
much the life that the most primitive
types of man led in Great Britain
and France in the far-back days of
big animals, possibly before the COM
ing Of the glacial periods.
''They live entirely by the chase,
and beasts uncooked. Though they
commit considerable devastations
among the game OF the province.
they are a picturesque feature when
encountered
Joseph Thomson, founder of Brit
ish East Africa, which now is Kenya,
is famous for never having fired at
a native. He first penetrated Nasal
land where the reality approaches
kipling's fantastic lines:
This is the sorrowfuI story,
Told when the twilight fails
And the monkeys walk together,
Holding each others tails
''Sir Harry Johnston's Masailand
picture follows:
A FAiry-Land Area.
Their towns are surrounded by
belts of tall trees. mainly acacias,
some Of which must be considerably
green boughs and trunks and ever
present f1aky films of pinnated foliage.
In the rainy time of the year these
trees are loaded with tiny golden
balls of flowers, like tassels of floss
silk, which exhale a. most delicious
perfume of honey. In the plains be-
tween the villages Grevy's zebra and
a few oryx antelopes scamper about.
while golden and black jackals hunt
for small prey in broad daylight with
a constant whimpering.
Enormous balloons sit in the
branches Of the huge trees, ready to
rife the native crops at the least
lack OF vigilance on the part of the
boy guardians. Large herds of cat
tie and troops Of isabella colored
donkeys, with broad black shoulder
stripes, go out in the morning to
Craze and return through a faint
cloud of dust, which is turned golden
by the setting sun in the mellow even
ing, the cattle lowing and occasion
ally fighting, the asses kicking,
plunging and biting one another"