A TEMPTING OFFER 



very satisfactory account to be given of the geology of the 

 area. 



Numerous other expeditions have also added to our know- 

 ledge of the country. Piggott ascended the Tana (1889), and 

 Lugard the Sabaki and the Athi (1890); Peters, with the 

 German Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, fought his way across 

 Laikipia (1889-90); F. J. Jackson and E, Gedge explored 

 Mount Elgon (1890) ; Major Smith and James Martin opened 

 new roads across the western edge of the Rift Valley to the 

 Nyanza ; Ainsworth mapped the region of Western Ukamba ; 

 the Railway Survey, under Captains Macdonald and Pringle, 

 surveyed a line from Mombasa to the Nyanza (1892); and 

 Hobley described the Taita Mountains and the Upper Tana 



(1894). 



The materials thus collected by many different workers in 

 Africa have been studied by Professor Eduard Suess of Vienna, 

 who has shown that the facts reported have a greater significance 

 than their discoverers knew, In a very remarkable memoir, 

 entitled Die Briicke des Ost-Afrika, he has summarised our 

 knowledge of the geology and structural geography of the 

 whole line of country from the Nyasa on the south to Syria 

 on the north, and proved the truth of the suggestion that the 

 lakes along this line are due to a connected series of earth- 

 movements. He has discussed the date of these movements, and 

 indicated the important collateral problems upon which their 

 study may be expected to throw light. With his usual insight 

 into geographical problems, he has read more of the lessons of 

 the country, from descriptions, than the travellers who wrote 

 them, did from the country itself. 



Suess's monograph pointed out that the part of the Rift 

 Valley between the southern end of the Red Sea and the northern 

 end of Basso Narok (Lake Rudolf) promises to be of especial 

 interest. This had never been visited : new geographical as well 

 as geological results were therefore promised by its exploration. 

 I had always been keenly interested in the problems of African 

 geology, and had watched the gradual opening of the Somali 

 country, and longed to have a share in the work. When, 

 therefore, in October 1892, the chance presented itself, I was 

 of course eager to seize it. I was then asked to accompany, as 

 naturalist, an expedition about to cross the Somali country to 



