KUNOt. SV. VET. AKADfiMlENS HANDLINGAR. BAND 48. N:0 5. 13 



otherwise dry riverbeds as at Njoro and Thera. As mentioned above the water at 

 the former place is salt. It appeared to me to be of interest even from a biological 

 point of view to know the chemical composition of this salt water of which so many 

 animals drink. Therefore I brought along with me a carefully corked bottle containing 

 a sample of this salt water from Njoro, and when I had come home my friend Count 

 K. A. H. MoRNER, Professor of Chemistry, kindly undertook the work of analysing 

 this water, and he has prepared the following report for which I wish to express 

 my gratitude. 



Analysis of water from Njoro in the Rendile country, British 



East Africa- 



By 

 K. A. H. MORNBR. 



When Professor Einar Lonnberg returned from his zoological expedition to British 

 East Africa in May this year (1911) he brought with him a sample of water which 

 he had taken from a place called Njoro in the dry thornbush-country north of Guaso 

 Nyiri which is inhabited by the nomadic Rendile tribes. Professor Lonnberg in- 

 forms me that the water originates from one of a series of holes dug by the Rendiles 

 in a dry river-bed. Almost all of these holes contained water but that water was 

 not of the same quality in all, it was more salt in some than in others. It was 

 used by the Rendiles as well for themselves as for their animals. Almost every day 

 many hundreds of sheep and goats were driven down to the river and quenched 

 their thirst with that water which was scooped up and offered to them in dug out 

 logs. About every third day several hundreds of camels were in a similar way watered 

 there. In consequence of the manner in which the watering took place it lasted 

 several hours during which the animals stood densely crowded in the river-bed. The 

 water-holes were also visited during night time by wild animals even elephants and 

 rhinoceroses. Some of the wild beasts preferred, however, a small natural pool at 

 the base of a rock further down the river bed. 



Considering the great number of animals which visit these water-holes and the 

 long time some of them remain in the river-bed Professor Lonnberg suspected that 

 the water might be polluted by the droppings and the urine of the animals which 

 might be expected to penetrate the loose layers of sand and reach the aquiferous 

 layers. The analysis does not, however, bear out that this suspicion is founded. 

 As will be set forth below there are no nitrates no nitrites of any kind nor ammonia 

 to be found. It appears also, to judge from the analysis, as if the water originated 

 from a natural mineral spring and was not fully stagnant. 



The present author received the sample of water the 31^* of May 1911, and 

 set to work at once. The quantity of water ^ was only 750 cm^ and the investigation 



1 As everything must be carried from Njoro by native porters and tlie other collections were large as 

 virell as heavy it was connected with difficulty to take more. 



