236 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xvm 



springs and a steam-vent on one of the islands in this 

 lake (see p. 247). 



Donyo Buru (Steam Mountain), situated underthe Man 

 escarpment near Lake Naivasha, reaches a height of 

 nearly 9,000 feet. Thomson visited this mountain and 

 observed that two of the cones were composed largely 

 of obsidian. The steam holes lie in a pit on the side of 

 the mountain (7,055 feet). Clouds of vapour are 

 ejected with a puffing sound. In places where the 

 emission of steam is very copious it hissed as if it came 

 from the safety-valve of an engine. The surrounding 

 rock was so hot that the men could not walk on it, 

 and was disintegrating, under the influence of the 

 steam, into a crimson- red clay. This clay was considered 

 to have a wonderful medicinal virtue, and the men 

 painted themselves with it. 



The chief seat of volcanic activity in relation to the 

 Rift Valley exists at the northern section, especially 

 around the southern end of Lake Rudolf. There is in 

 this region an active volcano, Mount Teleki. AVhen 

 Donaldson Smith visited this region, a few years later 

 than Teleki, a great stream of glowing lava issued from 

 one of the craters. 



Near the shore of Lake Rudolf there is an extinct 

 volcano, Mount Kuloll, nearly 6,000 feet high. The 

 crater has fallen in and broken up. The mountain is 

 split from top to bottom : " The fissure is about twenty 

 yards wide, and from the bottom it is scarcely possible 

 to distinguish trees at the top, so high are the vertical 

 walls." (Donaldson Smith.) The upper slopes of the 

 mountain are well wooded, whilst the base is proportion- 

 ately barren. 



Around the lake there are masses of magnetic iron, 

 which so affected the compasses that the route could not 

 be accurately mapped. When a compass was held 

 " near the ground the needle turned right round." 

 (L. von HohneL) 



Kenia (or Kenya) is a stupendous mass (17,184 ft.) 



