HUNTING ON LAKE SOLAI 183 



apparently dead. As we approached, liowever, from 

 coiivergiDg directions, the pig suddenly sprang to his 



feet and charged on AY , who was within a dozen 



yards. A shot in the nape terminated this gallant 

 effort. As a rule, the wart-hog, with all his formidable 

 armament, seems less apt to take the offensive than his 

 European cousin. One of these animals, shot by my 

 brother, was entirely devoid of the usual warts on the 

 lower face, while the set of the tusks was upright. 



AV crossed over the rugged shoulder of JNIeningai 



in one more effort to secure the elusive Chanler's 

 reedbuck, but again these grey phantoms kept their 

 skins intact. 



One day, being near the western summit, we went 

 to look into the crater of j\leningai, and an appalling 

 abyss it is — perhaps as big a hole as exists in the crust 

 of our planet. A few hundred yards below the external 

 lip there is a lower rim, and having descended to this, 

 we could look down into the full depth of the chasm, 

 apparently 2,000 or 3,000 ft. The width may be 

 perhaps three miles across, and the sides slope inwards 

 and downwards as regularly as a funnel, the lower depths 

 apparently tree-clad and bushy. 



We attempted to descend, being at first deceived by 

 the apparent simplicity of the undertaking. Not for 

 long, however, were we left in doubt. It was the dis- 

 tance that had hidden the terrible rugosity of its depths 

 from view — depths that are practically impenetrable. 

 But we little dreamed (as we have since been posi- 

 tively assured by men who do not lightly accept fabled 

 tales) that that vast abyss is still one of Nature's own 

 sanctuaries. Elephants descend its depths to breed 

 therein, rhinos take their ease amidst subterranean 

 bush, while lions occupy its many inaccessible strong- 

 holds. Men, it is said, had descended and been lost — 

 probably eaten ! Such, we were told, is the crater of 

 Meningai. 



That evening at Nakuru we enjoyed an odd experi- 

 ence — an incident perhaps unique in the process of 



