94 ACROSS LANDS OF KIKUYU AND MASAI part ii 



miles to the west, to the foot of the scarp of " Mau." Most 

 Zanzibari have an eye for beauty in landscape, and to many of 

 the men, including Omari, this view was new. So we sat along 

 the path and enjoyed it. Now and again the cloud-banks 

 that floated up the valley settled round us and blotted out the 

 prospect ; but a friendly gust of wind would cleave a passage 

 through them, and give us a glimpse to the north of the great 

 cone of the volcano Longonot, or to the south of the breached 

 crater Doenyo Suswa, and the newer cone rising within it. 

 Sometimes the clouds would lift for a few minutes and reveal 

 the plain, with its patches of green swamp and glittering sand, 

 and the dark sinuous line of flat-topped acacias that mark 

 the course of the Guaso Kedong ; while far to the west we 

 could see the long, dull gray scarp of the plateau, which 

 forms the western boundary of the valley. We stopped 

 there, lost in admiration of the beauty and in wonder at the 

 character of this valley, until the donkeys threw their loads 

 and bolted down the path. We soon caught them and started 

 again down the steep slope, intending to go on to a place 

 known as " Martin's Camp." But I noticed on the cliff face, a 

 little farther to the north, what appeared to be some old shore 

 lines. This was a point that had to be settled ; so we camped 

 on the platform already mentioned, 500 feet above the floor of 

 the valley, and I devoted the rest of that day, and most of the 

 next, to an examination of these terraces. The dense vegetation, 

 sodden with moisture, was a great hindrance, but sufficient 

 evidence was obtained to show that these strange straight lines 

 along the hill-sides were old lake terraces. I at once named 

 the lake that had made them after Prof. Ed. Suess, whose 

 work has thrown so much light on the geological structure of 

 this region. 



Late on the following day we moved down to the floor of 

 the Rift Valley, and in the dark, during a deluge of rain, 

 pitched camp in a deserted Masai kraal. 



We had now left the Kikuyu behind us, and as there 

 seemed no natives in the immediate neighbourhood, I thought 

 it was no longer necessary for me to spend the whole day 

 with the caravan. The men were so overladen with food 

 that no one could be spared to go with me, except my boy, 

 who was so slow a walker as to be an encumbrance. But the 



