CHAPTER XXIII 



THE UASO NYIRO 



Had circumstances permitted, I should like to have 

 spent a much longer time in exploring Marti and the 

 surrounding country, but it was essential that I should 

 proceed without delay, for, should game be scarce, 

 starvation both for my men and myself would stare 

 me in the face. Meru, the nearest food supply, was 

 nearly 150 miles away, and I had no provisions left 

 except the sheep I had bought from the Borana, a 

 little tea, sugar and a few pounds of flour full of 

 weevils. It was therefore imperative that I should 

 waste no time, and so I turned my back on Marti, not 

 without regret, and marched westwards, following the 

 southern bank of the Uaso Nyiro. Although my men 

 were aware of the shortage of our food supply, they 

 showed no anxiety, and would have been perfectly 

 willing to remain near Marti for a week or more, so 

 implicit is the trust shown by natives in the foresight 

 and wisdom of their white masters. 



On the banks of the Uaso Nyiro dom palms and 

 a few mimosas form a narrow but picturesque belt of 

 tropical vegetation. Within a mile of the river they 

 disappear, giving place to a dense and almost impene- 

 trable tangle of bush and tall grass, which in turn 

 gradually changes into more open country as the Uaso 

 Nyiro is left behind. It was across the latter that I 

 sent my camels, having arranged to meet near some 



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