CHAP. VIII THE FOOT-HILLS OF KAMASIA 137 



one and all, for I was determined not to have a repetition 

 of their behaviour on Baringo. The geology, moreover, was 

 very tantalising. It was only too interesting, but it was com- 

 plex, and the conditions of the country were not favourable 

 to a hasty unravelling of its story. There were clearly two 

 series of lavas of very different ages, but they were so much 

 displaced and mixed up by faults that I could not make out 

 their relations one to another. Occasionally a gully would 

 promise an instructive section, but when a way had been 

 laboriously cut through to it, the sides were found to be hidden 

 under a wash of the " talus " of disintegrated rock, or were 

 obscured by a dense growth of scrub, or else a vertical face of 

 rock barred approach to the desired spot. At last I gave up 

 the attempt to settle the relations of the two sets of lavas by 

 mapping them, and so plodded through sandy gorges, or forced 

 a way through ravines choked with a dense growth of jungle, 

 until I found a series of old lake deposits, buried beneath the 

 later set of lavas. The upper part of the lake deposits had 

 been baked by the lavas into an intensely hard and exquisitely 

 white porcelain ; but below they contained some beds of 

 gravels, all the pebbles of which must have been derived 

 from the older set of lavas. This gave me the clue I 

 wanted, so I weighted the men's loads with a fair assortment 

 of the pebbles, and then went merrily on. We marched 

 for a couple of days westward over the rest of the foot-hills, 

 until we entered the inhabited region at the foot of the main 

 plateau of Kamasia. The natives were in great force, and very 

 suspicious of our objects. I did not, therefore, think it safe to 

 take the men farther, though I was resolved to go on myself. 

 So I posted the men and baggage among some rocks, in a 

 position which five men with guns could hold against an army 

 of timid spearsmen, and then started, with the Askari and one 

 porter, to attempt the ascent of Doenyo Lubikwe. This 

 mountain rises above the plateau of Kamasia as a fine conical 

 peak on the end of a well-rounded ridge ; its bold outline 

 towered above the long flat edge of the plateau, and lured me 

 upward with a fascination that I could not resist. We nearly 

 reached the top, but alas ! the start had been made too late in 

 the day, and we had the annoyance of having to return, when 

 the summit was well within our reach. We dared not delay, 



