THE EASTERN PROVINCE 5 



in the north is strewn along its course and up its branches and blind alleys 

 with a succession of lakes, large and small, fresh and salt. There is no need 

 to enumerate here those which do not come within the limits of the I'ganda 

 Protectorate. Those which do are Lakes Naivasha (fresh), Elmenteita and 

 Nakuro (salt), Hannington, Baringo, and Sugota (brackish), and the great 

 Lake Kudolf, which is either brackish or only just potable. There are also 

 not a few pools and lakelets as yet unnamed and undescribed, some of which 

 are fresh and others salt. In the case of the bigger hdces, the degree of 

 potability of the water depends a great deal on the recent rainfall and the 

 extent to w^hich the evaporation is exceeded by the supply. Very often, 

 when the water of the bigger lakes is undrinkable close to the shore, lialf 

 a mile farther out it may be relatively fresh. Where this depression of 



3. " MANY LITTLE ISOLATED CRATEKS " 



the Kift Valley begins, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Lake Pukwa, 

 it lies at an altitude probably not much exceeding 2,500 feet. It rises 

 in height by degrees as it is followed northwards, till on tlie southern 

 frontier of the Eastern Province the altitude is not far short of 4,000 feet. 

 This rise continues till at Lake Naivasha the ahitude is G,300 feet, and 

 the Rift Valley is here at its apex. It is as though this ribbon of depression 

 had been arched in the centre of its long course, for from Lake Naivasha 

 northwards the general level of the Rift Valley slowly decreases till at 

 Lake Rudolf it is only 1,200 feet above sea level, and from this point 

 again, with a few occasional upheavals and ridges excepted, it dwindles 

 down to sea level at the Gulf of Tajurra. 



The Rift Valley makes a most striking frontier for the Eastern Province. 

 The Kikuyu Plateau stretching northwards into the Laikipia Escarpr.ient 

 forms its eastern cliffs, and from these forested heights, ranging in altitude 



