Chapter Y. 



woollen vests. The hlunkets tied around then- shoulders and 

 girt M-ith a rope around the waist formed a garment somewhere 

 between a toga and a cassock. At all events, the poor fellows 

 were now protected from the cold, which was the essential 

 point. 



While tlie Duke, with the help of Dr. Cavahi, directed the 

 organization of the camp, Messrs. Knowles, Sella and Roccati 

 made a preliminary exploration as far as the Mobuku Glacier 

 at tlie head of the valley. 



On the following morning, June i)th, Mr. Knowles and 

 ]\[r. Haldane, who had accompanied the expedition as far as the 

 toot of the uiouutains, and used all their authority and their 

 great experience to facilitate its progress, left it definitely and 

 returned to Fort Portal. H.H.H. remembers with gratitude 

 the invaluable help which they gave to his enterjjrise. 



The porters went down to fetch the loads which had been 

 left behind at Kichuchu. The Duke, with his guides and 

 Botta and five Bakonjos, started for the upper end of the 

 valley. 



After leaving Bujongolo, the way continues to skirt the 

 right slope of tlie valley. The bottom of the valley is nearly 

 level, marshy, dotted with reeds, lobelias and senecio, and 

 strewn with fallen trunks upon which you stumble at every 

 step, and slipjx'rv with wet mosses in which you sink to the 

 knee. The opposite side of the valley consists of a smooth 

 rock wall. 



Where the vallt'V tm-ns northward it i-rows still narrower, 

 forming a gorge l)etvveen steep walls. At the upper end the 

 Mobuku Glacier a})})ears act\ially to overhang it. all broken 

 and full ol' crevasses, covering the u])p('i- portion of the last 

 rocky clitf and ending in an ice cavern wlifiicc issues the 



142 



