AND THE RUDOLP BASIN 



21 



are constant features along the coast of Lake Kudolf. Occasionally, where 

 streams from the western hill ranges in the Turkana, Karamojo, and Suk 

 comitries bring down running water to the lake, wild date palms and 

 the branching Hyphanic thebaica, or I)um [)alm, may he seen with an 

 occasional baobab, fig-tree, or green-barked acacia {A. verru(josci). On the 

 rising ground to the west of the lake there is fairh' good grazing, except 

 after periods of long drought. Along the valleys of great rivers like 

 the Turkwel, which seldom wholly dry up in their lower courses, there 

 are forests of the tall acacia just mentioned (see illustration, p. 18). The 



17. STRANGE TEHMITK ("aNT") )III.1s \n\ Mi TIIKOUGHOUT THE BARINGO AND KUDOI.K REGIONS 



only certain feeder of Kudolf is tlie mighty Kiver Omo. wliich Hows all 

 the way from Southern Abyssinia into the north end of this lake. Along 

 the lower course of the Omo the vegetation is of a tropical luxuriance, and 

 in places there are huge stretches of pai)yrus swam]). With this exception 

 the whole of the Kudolf region is almost as unprepossessing as the Sahara 

 Desert. In the Turkana country, west of Lake Kudolf, the leading 

 features may be summed up in these words: stony hills and thorny bush ; 

 poor grazing. Nevertheless, this land of .scrub, sliort trees, " wait-a-bit," and , 

 Acacia fishila forests is, by reason of the scarcity of moisture and consequent 

 absence of mosquitoes, healthy, and it is the home of the finest >egro 



