The northwestern bulletin-appeal., 1925-03-07
KiIIMANARO, THE
EVEREST OF AFRICA
10 Much Higher Than Blanc
or Whitney.

Washington, d. C.S- Kilimanjaro
mountain Of TanganyAa territory.
which has been the object of a recent
expedition, is one of the msst notable
violent contrasts IN Africa, spmetimes
termed the continent Of ''vioknt con-
trasts"
although Africa spreads itsslf to
both temperate zones" says a bulletin
of the National Geographic society,
'by whim Of geography Its only 20
table snow peaks are under the sums
most direct glare and, Of Its high
spots near the Equator, Kilimanjaro
IL chief.
"Kilimanjaro was unknown to the
world a century ago, and unscaled
until 1889, but now railway from
Mombasa approaches Its fianks. In Its
way II affords Africa claim to the
greatest mountain on the face Of the
earth. Everest. at 29,O02 altitude Is
almost 10000 feet higher than Kiliman-
jaro; there are even peaks having SIM
ilar volcanic origin rising higher In
South and Central America, but all Of
those great ones rise on the backs of
their neighbors. Kilimanjaro stands
alone in the heat-scorched wind-swept
plain. Without even the company Of
q mountain ridge It rises solitary from
q plateau at $500 to 1900 feet to the
snow-capped majesty Of 1850 feet.
oVsrshadows Blanc and Whitney.
Europe is proud of its Alps and
Pyrenees and the United States con-
aders the Rockies mighty mountains,
yet Kilimanjaro Is nearly a mile high
or than Mt. Whitney, Americas tallest
peak. 1t Is almost 1900 feet higher
than Mt. Blanc, Europe's leading sum-
NIT. Kilimanjaro has for company on
the equator Mt. Kenya, just over the
border, giving its name to Kenya col
ony and the Mountains Of the Moon
officially Ruwenzori, In Uganda, feed
ing the White Nile with water for
Egypt.
Natives inhabiting the slopes Of
Kilimanjaro have the legend that the
mountain has silver peak. To tribes
who have never seen snow, this seemed
the most satisfactory explanation for
the cleaning white cap. They associ-
ated 1t with their gods. and the first
white men to explore II had great diff
nculty satisfying the natives that they
would not drive away Rayli, the god
N the form Of a giant COW inhabiting
the mountains high plains.
The mountain Is q small world In
itself, or more properly half a world.
The snow cap Is its polar cap; the
high, cold ridges, without vegetation.
are like Labrador or the Alaskan
stsppe, but instead Of harboring rein
deer. they support fiocks Of Gland.
The mountain is q game preserve and
the iocks thrive.
Next comes a belt of heather sim
liar to that Of the Scotch highlands.
Then the elevation drops, the region
Of heavy precipitation appears and
with II the rain-forest, almost con-
stantly swathed in mist. This thins
to the ordinary tropical forest and then
dwindles to the mountains temperate
Zone where the trlbesmen live. II 10
estimated 125,OOO people now reside on
the slopes Of Kilimanjaro, and they are
counted by some explorers among the
most intelligent and progressive ma
tives of Africa.
THE Chagga and other tribes even
employ irrigation to grow their crops
Of bananas, sweet potatoes and grains.
Sometimes they merely divert a noun
tain stream, but frequently consider
able engineering skill Is used to bring
water through tubes or channels con-
siderable distances. The forest belt,
not KilimanjarO's glaciers, supplies
most Of this life giving water. The
raln-forest Is a vast sponge, drinking
up the rain and squeezing II out In
springs.
Shun Crater and Plain.
Below the agricultural belt Is the
scorched dry plain. 1t is almost as
impossible TO get the natives to ven
ture down to the hot plain as to get
them to approach the ice-capped
crater.
Elephants inhabit the thick forests
Of Kilimanjaro's slopes Explorers
often see their spOors on banks SEEM
ingly impossible for such huge animals
to manage. One writer reports seeing
marks indicating that the elephants
thrust their tusks into the ground to
steady themselves on a descent, and
that scruffed bark showed that they
wound their trunks about trees to help
themselves up to higher positions"