THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 43 



We soon discovered that the banks of the stream 

 were too swampy to permit us to cross, so we went 

 down a mile or so and camped. After lunch Cuning- 

 hame and I with four men set out to scout a way. I 

 had located as a landmark a small green patch on the 

 mountainside below the possible pass, and toward this 

 we bent our energies. We found a ford — after being 

 scared by a crashing old rhino at close quarters — and 

 ascended the mountain toward the green patch. The 

 way proved feasible until we reached a round elevated 

 valley below the final rise of the escarpment. At 

 this point we found a spring of water and marked it on 

 our sketch map. A herd of zebra and kongoni were 

 here. I killed one of the former, after one miss, with 

 a heart shot at 270 yards. Leaving the men to attend 

 to him, Cuninghame and I toiled directly up the pre- 

 cipitous side hill to the summit. Here we got an ex- 

 tensive view of a wild tumble of hills that looked 

 impracticable, but could see plainly below us and to the 

 the west a feasible pass to a stream on the other side of 

 the ridge. Also across the way another water, with a 

 great concourse of baboons sitting around it. Quite 

 satisfied for the moment, we named it Gilbert Pass in 

 honour of my brother's birthday. 



The long tramp brought us back to camp at dusk. 

 Wonderful moon, and very chilly night. 



M'ganga back from another Masai village with no 

 news except that the runners had been there warning 



