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ELGON

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 271 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ELGON , also known as MASAWA, an See also:

extinct See also:volcano in See also:British See also:East See also:Africa, cut by 1° N. and 3420 E., forming a vast isolated See also:mass over 4o m. in See also:diameter. The See also:outer slopes are in See also:great measure precipitous on the See also:north, See also:west and See also:south, but fall more gradually to the east. The See also:southern cliffs are remarkable for extensive caves, which have the See also:appearance of See also:water-worn caves on a See also:coast See also:line and have for ages served as habitations for the natives. The higher parts slope gradually upwards to the rim of an old See also:crater, lying somewhat north of the centre of the mass, and measuring some 8 m. in diameter. The highest point of the rim is about 14,100 ft. above the See also:sea. Steep spurs separated by narrow ravines run out from the See also:mountain, affording the most picturesque scenery. The ravines are traversed by a great number of streams, which flow north-west and west to the See also:Nile (through See also:Lake Choga), south and south-east to See also:Victoria See also:Nyanza, and north-east to Lake See also:Rudolf by the Turkwell, the See also:head-stream of which rises within the crater, breaking through a deep cleft in its rim. To the north-west of the mountain a grassy See also:plain, swampy in the rains, falls towards the See also:chain of lakes ending in Choga; towards the north-east the See also:country becomes more arid, while towards the south it is well wooded. The outer slopes are clothed in their upper regions with dense See also:forest formed in See also:part of bamboos, especially towards the south and west, in which directions the rainfall is greater than elsewhere. The See also:lower slopes are exceptionally fertile on the west, and produce bananas in abundance. On the north-west and north the region between 6000 and 7000 ft. possesses a delightful See also:climate, and is well watered by streams of See also:ice-See also:cold water. The See also:district of See also:Save on the north is a halting-See also:place for Arab and See also:Swahili caravans going north.

On the west the slopes are densely inhabited by small See also:

Bantu-See also:Negro tribes, who See also:style their country Masawa (whence the alternative name for the mountain); but on the south and north there are tribes which seem akin to the See also:Gallas. Of these, the best known are the El-gonyi, from whom the name Elgon has been derived. They formerly lived almost entirely in the caves, but many of them have descended to villages at the See also:foot of the mountain. Elgon was first visited in 1883 by See also:Joseph See also:Thomson, who brought to See also:light the See also:cave-dwellings on the southern See also:face. It was crossed from north to south, and its crater reached, in 1890 by F. J. See also:Jackson and Ernest Gedge, while the first See also:journey See also:round it was made by C. W. Hobley in 1896. (E.

End of Article: ELGON

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