14 



THE EASTERN PROVINCE 



it com]ilett4v oversliadows the lake, and its Ijliie-green reflections make 

 the whole surface look like a distant plain covered with herbage. The 

 north end of Lake Hannington is only separated from the waters of 

 Baringo bv a marshy district, and it is quite conceivable that in seasons 

 of exceptional rains the waters of the two may mingle. I have even 

 thought that Lake Hannington may be but a cut-off loop of Baringo, a 

 vestige of a time wlien that lake extended much farther to the south. 

 According to the natives' tradition, Baringo is far less in area than it was, 

 owing to an increasing drought which afflicts that part of the Eift Valley. 



UNDOES NKSTS, LAKK JlANM.Si.l 



^Nevertheless, as regards Lake Hannington, this important fact should be 

 noted (it is illustrated in my photographs) — that right out in the middle 

 of the lake and at intervals along its shores there are the remains still 

 standing of a former forest. These trees appear to have been killed 

 partly by the saltish waters of the lake and in part by being made the 

 eyries of innumerable birds, such as storks, herons, and eagles. An 

 explanation of this might be that owing to recent volcanic action the 

 ground where Lake Hannington lies may have collapsed into a trough 

 which has been slowly filled uj) with water — water which has dissolved 

 this natron salt from the soil. On the other hand, so iar as native 



