Excerpt from The Great Rift Valley: Being the Narrative of a Journey to Mount Kenya and Lake Baringo; With Some Account of the Geology, Natural History, Anthropology and Future Prospects of British East Africa
In the Presidential Address to the British Association at its last meeting, Mr. Thiselton-Dyer quoted a letter from Sir John Kirk, deploring the neglect of opportunities for scientific usefulness by British residents in West Africa. "Such chances," he said, "never will occur again, for roads are now being made and ways cut in the jungle and forest, and you have at hand all sorts of trees level on the ground ready for study. These bring down with them orchids, ferns, and climbers of many kinds, including rattan palms, etc. But, excellent as are the officers who devote their energy to thus opening up this country, there is not one man who knows a palm from a dragon-tree, so the chance is lost. Strange to say, the medical men of the Government service know less and care less for Natural History than the military men, who at least regret they have no training or study to enable them to take an intelligent interest in what they see around them."
Having felt the same regret on the other side of the continent, I had already divided this book into two parts - one devoted to a narrative of a journey in Eastern British East Africa, and the other to a general account of the natural history of the country visited.
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