AN UNNAMED LAKE 



109 



ridge (6730 feet) which separates the Elmetaita and Baringo 

 basins, the valley descended rapidly to the north. We entered 

 some old lake basins, in which the grass was so rank that 

 marching became slow and wearisome. We left the ordinary 

 track, which was well known, in order to try and find a new 

 route to Njemps along the eastern side of the Rift Valley. 



The next week was a succession of misadventures. In 

 order to reconnoitre the country ahead I climbed a mountain, 

 which, as it lies exactly on the equator, I called " Equator 

 Peak." From the summit (6150 feet) I could see a lake to 

 the north-east which I resolved to visit. I sent the Askari in 

 one direction while I went in another to find the best track by 

 which to lead the caravan next day. We were caught some 

 miles from camp in a storm that was simply terrific. We were 

 used to heavy storms, but this was a hurricane. Even before 

 sunset it became so dark that it was impossible to see the way 

 or even to read a compass ; only the wind gave any clue to 

 direction. We both spent some hours stumbling about in the 

 darkness in the thorn scrub, and it was not till late at night 

 that we regained the welcome shelter of the camp. 



This was only the first of a trying series of accidents. Ihe 

 men at first objected to going by the route I proposed, as they 

 said they had no Kiringozi who knew it. I replied that I 

 would be Kiringozi, and they would have to follow me. We 

 marched north across the plain to the foot of Equator Peak, 

 and then along the eastern base of the ridge, of which it is 

 the highest summit. After a fatiguing march through dense 

 jungle, we reached the shore of the lake. One of my men said 

 he had previously visited it with a Suahili trader, and that it 

 was known as Zewi (or Lake) Kibibi. This is apparently only 

 a Kisuahili name and means " Little Ladies," which may be a 

 playful allusion to the swarms of mosquitoes that are said to 

 infest it. As it poured with rain throughout the whole of the 

 fourteen hours during which we camped beside the lake, we 

 were not troubled with these pests. We fished in the lake, but 

 without success. Next day we continued our way northward 

 across a country so intersected by ravines, and choked with scrub, 

 that progress was very slow. We had to march in single file, 

 chopping a way through the jungle and trampling the under- 

 growth into a path. Several times during the day we were 



