10 



THE EASTERN PROVINCE 



hippopotamuses and numbers of otters. It was formerly stated that there 

 were no fish, but my assistant, ]Mr. Doggett, discovered small fish there 

 belonging to the types he has elsewhere found in this chain of lakes in 



-\<ji;tii-kast cukxei'l uf lakh ^ai\'a.siia 



the Eift Valley. The water-birds are not quite so abundant as formerly, 

 owing to the extent to which they have been shot at by Europeans ; but 

 during one visit to the lake we enjoyed a beautiful spectacle of rosy 

 flamingoes in regiments of thousands lining the northern shore ; though 

 effects of this description pale before the million flamingoes of Lake 

 Hannington, to be described later on. Lake Naivasha much resembles an 

 Irish lough as seen from the eastern shore. There is a relative scarceness 

 of trees on the noble mountains* which encircle it on the north and west; 

 but the cloud shadows on these — their moorland tones of brown and green 

 and mauve (the distant peaks and ridges being steeped in the ultramarine 

 of distance) — greatly resemble Ireland's melancholy mountains. 



There is one little object which is sure to strike the observant traveller 

 with an eye for small beauties and an ear for pleasing sounds. Anywhere 



* Eising to an altitude of 10,000 feet, or nearly 4,000 feet above the lake 

 surface. 



