io8 ALONG THE RIFT VALLEY TO BARINGO part ii 



and information. This included, as a matter of course, the 

 usual warnings against the attempt to cross Laikipia with so 

 small a force. Captain Williams advised me to strike westward 

 from Njemps to the Victoria Nyanza, and along its northern 

 shore to Kampala ; there I could get whatever trade goods 

 were necessary, and thence proceed to Ruwenzori. Food was 

 abundant, and the natives friendly all along the line. The 

 scheme looked attractive when compared with the risks of the 

 march across Laikipia, and for a while my resolution of " Kenya 

 at any price " was shaken. 



Next morning the Company's caravan proceeded on its 

 homeward journey. I spent the day in an excursion eastward 

 to climb one of the Dondole Mountains, and in walking west- 

 ward across the plains to a group of broken-down volcanic 

 craters. The morning climb was rewarded by a view of 

 exceptional beauty from a peak of 7650 feet in height, which, 

 owing to the form of its flat, lava -capped summit, I named 

 Kilima Meza {i.e. Table Mountain).-^ Of more practical value 

 than the view was the collection of some interesting plants, 

 including a handsome Gladiolus and a new species of Lagaro- 

 siphon {L. Jiydrilloides, Rdle.) 



The lake itself I visited next day. It receives two rivers, 

 the Kariandusi and the Guaso Nagut, but has no outlet. Its 

 level is being lowered by evaporation, and it is now much 

 smaller than it once was. The water is bitter, and the only 

 signs of animal life in it were some insect larvae and small 

 crustaceans (amphipods), though the empty shells of a new 

 water-snail (Z. elmetaitensis, E. A. Sm.) were abundant on the 

 shore. Huge flocks of pink flamingoes {Phoenicopterus roseus, 

 Pall.) waded in the shallows or swam on the surface, browsing 

 on masses of alga, which in places imparted a deep green colour 

 to the water. The simultaneous discharge of both barrels of my 

 shot-gun secured six flamingoes, and yielded for some days 

 afterwards a pleasant addition to our bill of fare. 



After leaving Elmetaita the journey, for a few days, was 

 as easy and restful as a picnic. The route lay over smooth 

 turf steppes ; water and firewood were abundant ; there were no 

 natives to worry us, and the rain did not begin till late in the 

 afternoon. But this did not last long. After crossing the 



^ See. Alpine Journal, vol. xvii. (1894), p. 91. 



