186 



RUWENZORI AND ITS SNOWS 



that the short stay amid the ice and snow of Kuwenzori seemed to do my 

 health as much good as if I had been to p]ngland. 



The whole time of our stay on Euwenzori the weather was, with very 

 few and brief exceptions, atrocious. It rained constantly, and at high 

 altitudes it snowed and hailed. The arrival of clouds had about it some- 

 thing positively alarming to our black followers and to the two Eurojieans 

 accompanying me, who had had no previous experience in mountaineering. 

 The clouds would come rusliing up the Mubuko Valley like express trains 



153. THE ICE MELTING: SOURCE OF THE MUI5LKO KIVEK (13,534 FEET 



one after the other, and they did not appear as vague mists, but as bodies 

 of singular definiteness of outline which constantly seized and enveloped 

 you as in a thick blanket. You might be sitting for a few minutes in 

 brilliant, welcome sunshine, looking at the blazing white snow-fields and 

 the minutest detail of the rocks and boulders. Suddenly an awful greyish 

 white mass would come rushing at you, and everything would be blotted 

 out. Even your companions four or five yards off were scarcely visible. 

 Although I told myself there was no danger in this, the effect on the 

 spirits was singularly depressing and alarming, especially as this occurred 



