148 ACROSS LAI K IP 1 A 



more chance of interesting geographical work, but it avoided 

 most of the open steppes, on which concealment was impossible 

 and defence difficult. The scarcity of food greatly increased 

 the risks of the march, for nothing rouses the suspicions of 

 Africans more than insistence on an immediate reply to a request 

 for permission to enter their country. And we had no time to 

 waste on the road in " shauri " with the natives, for our supply 

 of food could not last until we reached the Kikuyu plantations. 



The men understood the difficulties as well as I did, probably 

 much better. But by this time they had also learnt that they 

 had to do as they were told. Most of the older men, more- 

 over, were pleased at the prospect of seeing new country : I 

 had chatted with them round their camp fires in the evening 

 about the great mountain, whose face was speckled with white ; 

 about the rivers and supposed lakes that formed the sources of 

 the Tana. Fundi, moreover, had related exciting stories about 

 the wonders of Kenya and the glories of the country at its foot, 

 with its abundant firewood, pure mountain streams, vast herds 

 of game, and freedom from mosquitoes. Omari had told the 

 men it was their duty to go wherever I wanted, and so long 

 as I did not fear to .lead, they must not fear to follow. So 

 between us we had roused general interest in the unknown land 

 into which we were about to venture. As soon, therefore, 

 on the morning of the 6th of June, as I gave the order to 

 " Taenda," adding " Harako leo ! maji mbali ! " (We must 

 hasten to-day ! water is far off !), the men took up their loads 

 and marched briskly across the plain to the foot of the for- 

 bidding cliffs of Laikipia. 



We soon rose above the valley of the " Paragara " (as our 

 guide called the tributary of the Nyuki by which we had 

 camped), and then crossed the opening of a bay of alluvium 

 which ran from the plain into the hills. We forded the Ngusa- 

 gari, a small stream that drained this bay, and reached the 

 foot of the cliffs, at the mouth of a narrow gorge half choked 

 with vegetation. We pushed through this, walked along the 

 bed of a dry stream over dark rounded surfaces of " andesite," 

 and climbed over fallen boulders of black basalt. We had to 

 scale a steep cliff on the north side of the river bed, hauling up 

 the donkeys with ropes. We followed one valley to the north- 

 north-east, and crossed a gap to another, and went along it to 



