198 AMONGST THE EESIIIAT AND TO LAKE STEFANIE 



no buffalo, no rhinoceros,' he said, 'shall meet you by the way, 

 clear and open shall be your path.' To wind up, they said we 

 must find out for ourselves whether there was or was not a 

 way round the lake ; they were not going to provide us with 

 a guide. All they knew was that if we did try they would 

 see us all back in our old camp in two or three days. 



Under these circumstances it really was very difficult to 

 know what to do ; but we had not the least intention of acting 

 on the advice given to return by the eastern shore of the lake. 

 We therefore left the matter open for the present, bestirring 

 ourselves only to collect plenty of food, so as to be free to act 

 at once directly the die was cast. We put the natives off 

 for the time by simply telling the Oromaj that we should want 

 a great quantity of dhurra for the return journey, and begging 

 him to get it for us. He declared himself pleased at our 

 decision, and promised to meet our wishes about the supplies 

 of food. 



The next day was passed by us in a state of the greatest 

 indecision, and never before did we so much regret our want 

 of some trustworthy map of this part of Africa. All we really 

 knew was that we were somewhere about 5° N. lat. We pre- 

 sumed that dry, barren Somaliland, where we could not travel 

 without camels, lay on the east. On the west were perfectly 

 insurmountable obstacles to progress, and what there was on 

 the north we were quite at a loss to tell. Was there a risk 

 of falling into the hands of the Mahdists, or should we come 

 to the still unconquered Kaffa P All our projects for further 

 exploration northward fell through when we remembered that 

 we were quite without the necessary articles of barter for making 

 our way in that direction. Moreover, eleven of our men and 

 half our loads were waiting for us on Lake Baringo ; and last, 

 not least, we had but twenty charges of ammunition left for each 

 gun, so that we really should be wise not to contemplate going 



