A DREARY WILDERNESS 



225 



a gentle declivity and through a slightly undulating district ; 

 except for the increase in the number of acacias, the land grew 

 less and less fruitful as we advanced, the grass was sparser, 

 whilst the ground was everywhere strewn with volcanic 

 debris, &c. 



Our camp was pitched on a flat stony hill, some 200 or 

 300 paces from a long, narrow ravine overgrown with rushes, 

 the side towards the mountain being shaded by acacias, pre- 

 senting, in the fulness of their foliage, a contrast to the miser- 

 able-looking trees we had passed by the way. On the west 

 rose a few low hills covered with black volcanic rocks, whilst 

 on the east the land sank, in one long terrace, to the plain 

 which stretched far away to the foot of the Julu chain. There 

 was very little grass, and that little was sear and dry ; even 

 the reeds in the swamps were dead or trodden down by wild 

 animals. In the distance we could make out a few thriving 

 steppe plants, such as euphorbia, various kinds of succulent 

 bush, aloes, and two kinds of Sansiviera, 1 but the ground was 

 everywhere sandy and bare. This dreary wilderness was, how- 

 ever, tenanted by a great variety of birds, including two kinds 

 of doves, starlings with gleaming steel-green plumage, beautiful 

 nutcrackers with turquoise-blue feathers, several kinds of fowls, 

 hawks, and vultures, marabout storks, and bustards, whilst a 

 little farther away roamed herds of gazelles, antelopes, rhino- 

 ceroses, zebras, gnus, giraffes, ostriches, and wild boars. One 

 night, too, we heard elephants in the swamp. 



Count Teleki had, of course, not been idle during the 

 previous days here, and had brought down a considerable 

 quantity of game, including a grey tiger. He had also come 

 into personal relations with the Masai, many having visited 

 him soon after Kimemeta started for Lake Nyiri, to celebrate 



1 The Sansiviera so often mentioned by the author is named after the Prince of 

 Sansiviero (1710-1776).— Trans. 



VOL. I. Q 



