xix THROUGH SAMBURU LAND 249 



The manufacture is quite simple. First of all the 

 plant is cut down and brought to camp, where it is 

 beaten with a club against the trunk of a tree until 

 the fibres are separated; these are then plaited into 

 rope by one or two of the porters, many of whom 

 are experts at this kind of work, as it is a usual task 

 at the native jails. 



As soon as the camels arrived from Legurchalan, 

 we struck camp and set out along the Guaso iSFyiro 

 towards Laishamunye. One of these camels belonged 

 to a young warrior named Lalla Rookh, who had 

 the face and figure of a beautifully-modelled bronze 

 statue. Indeed, he was so remarkably handsome 

 that one might easily imagine him to be a direct de- 

 scendant of Moore's lovely eastern princess. 



Soon after leaving camp we came upon two 

 streams. The first is called the Guaso Iseolo, and 

 has its source in Mount Kenya, while the second, 

 which we crossed some three miles further on, is 

 called the Guaso Mara, and rises in the Jombini 

 range in the Meru country, to the north-east of 

 Kenya. 



After this I could hear of no river flowing into 

 the Guaso Nyiro until it reaches the Lorian Swamp, 

 which is a huge expanse in which the river loses 

 itself. I was told by a native, however, that the 

 river does not end there, as most people have 

 supposed, but in the wet season flows through 



