ASCENTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 103 



hardly necessary to remark, the clouds had been 

 about us almost from the start. Another top* of 

 the same mountain, apparently of the same height 

 as ours, and about a quarter of a mile distant to 

 the north, showed up once or twice, and we saw 

 occasional glimpses down the valley to the east ; 

 but though we waited for three hours on the top, 

 the clouds never broke for a moment towards the 

 north-west and west, the directions in which we 

 hoped to see the highest peaks, so that our labour 

 was once more in vain. A heavy fall of snow, 

 which melted as it fell, made the descent over the 

 rocks difficult and dangerous, and the gully was 

 converted into a rushing ice-cold torrent. Could 

 anyone have seen us, we should have presented a 

 sorry and bedraggled spectacle as we floundered 

 with many a fall homeward through the swamps by 

 candle-lio:ht that evenino^. 



After a day of comparative rest, in which I find 

 from my diary that I ' stayed in bed most of the 

 day reading " Don Quixote," and trying to dodge 

 the water that fell from the rocks above,' we made 

 another expedition to Kiyanja, in the hope of 

 obtaining a better view of the range than on the 

 previous occasion. There was a great deal more 

 snow than before, so much so that on the glacier 

 near the top we sank to the knees at every step, 

 and progress was accordingly very slow ; but in 

 other respects the conditions were the same as on 

 * Now named Moore Peak, 15,269 feet. 



