throwing up spray which is converted into brilliant jewels by the
youthful sun not yet an hour old. Then turning sharply to the right, the
train runs up the valley of the Posu, a mountain torrent which rushes
and roars through a narrow defile. Snorting angrily, the engines climb
up this steep gradient, cross the river by an iron bridge and then
groaning under the brakes, slide down into another valley. The main
direction however, is upwards, and as the country opens out below, one
gets a first impression of the enormity and grandeur of Central Africa.
As far as the eye reaches, are ranges of hills, the Palabala Mountains
crowned by a great cone which appears first on one side then the other,
as we cork-screw our way up. The line indeed is a marvel of engineering
construction, for a most difficult piece of country is traversed without
a single tunnel and with very few cuttings and embankments. The length
of the railway is, of course, very much greater than a straight line
would be between the same points, for it frequently countermarches
backwards and forwards up a hill side, and after a detour of perhaps a
quarter of a mile, comes back to the same place, but thirty or forty
feet higher up. The company which undertook the task of building the
line met with many difficulties, but finished it at a cost of £3,000,000
and many native lives. It was built between the years 1891 and 1897 and
the workmen were recruited from Senegal and the British Colonies of
Africa. Frequent stops are necessary for the engines to drink and gain
their second winds, for their work here is very arduous. After two or
three hours, however, a plateau is reached and the line runs for miles
through dense forests of palms, acacias and _parasol_ trees (native
Motumbi). The name exactly describes these trees, for the branches are
arranged like the ribs, and the leaves spread out and form the covering
of the sunshade.

Between the belts of forests the country is covered with coarse grass,