CH.x PREPARATIONS FOR AN EXPEDITION 123 



all Scotland and Wales put together. It contained 

 within its borders part of that vast cleft in the 

 earth's surface known as the Rift Valley ; practically 

 unexplored lakes such as Rudolf, Sugota, and 

 Baringo ; mysterious rivers such as the Turkwell 

 and Guaso Nyiro ; inhospitable tracts of barren 

 waste like the Kaisoot Desert ; and rugged ranges 

 of volcanic mountains such as Lorogi, Matthews, 

 and Marsabit, whose beautiful forest-clad slopes 

 give a last shelter to the fast vanishing elephant. 

 Throughout the greater part, however, it is nothing 

 but nyika — a vast, parched wilderness of thorny 

 scrub and stunted growth, practically waterless 

 except during the rains, when for a few weeks its 

 innumerable dongas and ravines fill to overflowing 

 with a rushing torrent. 



This great area had been declared a Reserve by 

 a former Commissioner (as the Governor of East 

 Africa was until recently styled), in order to prevent 

 an undesirable number of sportsmen from pene- 

 trating into those regions where as yet we had no 

 "effective control," and where, in consequence, 

 trouble with such savape tribes as lived there might 

 have been expected to occur — probably with ill 

 results to the shikari. 



The inhabitants of these regions are practically 

 all nomads, and some of them are very keen 

 hunters. It is, of course, a very difficult matter 



