310 THE LAND OF THE LION 
rhino cactus stronghold? ‘This is the land of surprises in- 
deed. A few hours ago you dismounted from your mule if 
you were wise, for rhinos seem to have a peculiar aversion to 
mules, and walked warily in the spiney jungle of Africa 
proper; footprints of lion and rhino crossed and re-crossed 
the way, and while from the river sandbank the cruel croco- 
dile pushed noiselessly into the yellow stream. Here is an- 
other land, a land where soft green meadows in curving 
swells press up to the very edges of dense mountain forests 
as though they were English park lands browsed by the 
deer. And looking sheer down on you is the brow of as 
glorious a mountain as there is in the world. 
Mount Kenia was ascended with immense difficulty five 
years ago. The ascent was made from the southern side 
shown in the extraordinary photograph by Mr. Binks, a 
copy of which he has kindly allowed me to publish. The 
northern side of the mountain as I drew near seemed to offer 
a much easier approach at least as far up as the great de- 
pression into which falls the main glacier. From that basin 
towers aloft the final peak, on this northern face of it surely 
unscalable. Here a calamity overtook our sefari, when we 
had almost reached the foot of these northern slopes. ‘The 
man we had trusted to provision our men failed us com- 
pletely. The buffalo herds which we had come to seek had 
been driven away by the Massai cattle. We were out of 
potio and in almost gameless land; nothing remained for us 
but to send most of our men back to Laikipia to get food, and 
while we awaited their return from the journey of seventy 
miles, we were chained to camp. I enjoyed the ever- 
changing view of the mountain, but I greatly longed to push 
nearer and explore its northern side even for a little way. 
This was impossible; there were not enough men left in 
camp to move our tents, so I had to content myself by making 
excursions as far as my mule could carry me in a day. 
I came to the conclusion that the forest belt here was not 
