OUR HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS 



37 



ing a scientific one, we were anxious to do what in us lay to 

 further the cause of science. 



Many days now passed in feverish activity, which only 

 ended at sunset ; and of an evening we used to sit with Issa ben 

 Madi and Jumbe Kimemeta talking over again, and yet again, 

 the details of our journey. We left our guides altogether out 

 of these meetings, so that they might know from the first that 

 they would not share our deliberations. For them the one 

 aim of the Expedition was Baringo na mbele kidogo — to get to 

 Baringo and a little farther — whilst our idea was to penetrate 

 to the then quite unknown districts on the north of Baringo, as 

 yet unvisited even by native caravans, and in which some geo- 

 graphers said there was one lake, whilst others thought there 

 were two big sheets of water. Our route thither would lead 

 us past the noted mountains of Kilimanjaro and Kenia, which 

 we meant to visit, and we hoped to open up the now shunned 

 and dreaded Kikuyu country. 



On the evening of February 3, Issa ben Madi, who had 

 helped us so heartily in our preparations, took leave of us, with 

 many expressions of regret on both sides. Gladly would he 

 have gone with us all the way, but the Sultan could not spare 

 him for so long. Jumbe Kimemeta left us, too, to see to 

 some business of his own at Pangani ; but he promised to rejoin 

 us in a few days, catching us up by making forced marches. 

 And our men were told to be ready to start at daybreak the 

 next morning. 



VOL I. 



••d 3 



