92 THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE EUDOLF 



poor animals. Stee|3 rocky slopes alternated with ravines 

 strewn with debris, which gave one the impression of being 

 still glowing hot and of having but recently been flung forth 

 from some huge forge. And this glaring monotony continued 

 till about two o'clock. The good spirits with which the thought 

 that we were nearing the end of our long tramp had filled 

 us in the morning had long since been dissipated, and our 

 hopes had become restricted to finding some little pool with 

 slimy green water at which to quench our thirst, when all of a 

 sudden, as we were climbing a gentle slope, such a grand^ 

 beautiful, and far-stretching scene was spread out before us, 

 that at first we felt we must be under some delusion and w^ere 

 disposed to think the whole thing a mere phantasmagoria. As 

 we got higher up, a single peak gradually rose before us, the 

 gentle contours rising symmetrically from every side, resolving 

 themselves into one broad pyramidal mountain, which we knew 

 at once to be a volcano. A moment before we had been 

 gazing into empty space, and now here was a mighty mountain 

 mass looming up before us, on the summit of which we almost 

 involuntaril}^ looked for snow. This was, however, only the 

 result of an optical delusion caused by the suddenness with 

 which the mountain had come in sight, and from the fact that 

 the land sank rapidly on either side of it whilst we were 

 gazing ujD at it from a considerable height. On the east of the 

 mountain the land was uniformly flat, a golden plain lit up 

 by sunshine, whilst on the east the base of the volcano seemed 

 to rise up out of a bottomless depth, a void which was 

 altogether a mystery to us. We hurried as fast as we could 

 to the top of our ridge, the scene gradually developing itself 

 as we advanced, until an entirely new world was spread out 

 before our astonished eyes. The void down in the depths 

 beneath became filled as if by magic with picturesque 

 mountains and rugged slopes, with a medley of ravines and 



