Chapter V. 



woollen vests. The blankets tied around then' shoulders and 

 girt witli a rope aroiuid 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 e.ssential 

 point. 



While the Duke, with the help of Dr. Cavalli, directed the 

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

 made a preliminary exploration as far as the Mobuku Glacier 

 at the head of the valley. 



(3u the following morning, .June 9th, Mr. Knowles and 

 Mr. Haldane, wlio had accompanied the expedition as far as the 

 foot of the mountains, and used all their authority and their 

 great experience to facilitate its progress, left it definitely and 

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

 the invaluable help which they gave to his enterprise. 



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 tlie 

 valley. 



After leaving Bujongolo, the way continues to skirt the 

 right slope of the valley. The bottom of the valley is nearlv 

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

 strewn with fallen trunks upon which you stumble at every 

 step, and slippery with wet mosses in which you sink to the 

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

 rock wall. 



Where the valley turns northward it grows still narrower, 

 forming a gorge between steep walls. At the upper end thfr 

 Mobuku Glacier appears actually to o^'erha^g it, all broken 

 and full of crevasses, covering the upper portion of the last 

 rocky cliff and ending in an ice cavern whence issues the 



112 



