xix THROUGH SAMBURU LAND 243 



Early the following morning, therefore, I engaged 

 an intelligent native, who knew all the country round 

 about, to come with me, and, taking every available 

 man in the safari to build a stone beacon on the 

 highest peak, I started off to climb this mountain, 

 which is called Quaithego. It rises abruptly out 

 of the plain, and is about 3,700 feet high. The 

 eastern side seemed to present the easiest approach, 

 but even here the ascent was a very steep and 

 precipitous one, and we found it a rather difficult 

 matter to climb up to the top. 



When I reached the summit of this African 

 Pisgah and turned my face towards Marsabit that 

 place which I had been told was a veritable land of 

 promise the sight that met my gaze filled me with 

 disappointment ; for here was no land flowing with 

 milk and honey, but a barren, desolate region, 

 extending as far as the eye could see, unrelieved by 

 a single redeeming feature. Peak beyond peak 

 of rugged and spectral mountains stretched away 

 to the horizon, bare of aught save a veil of heat mist 

 which shimmered round them from the hot and desert 

 wastes of that terrible nyika. 



It was not without anxiety, therefore, that I 

 contemplated leading the safari through this in- 

 hospitable tract. I scanned the country carefully 

 through my glasses in order to make myself as 



