THE TURUKA PLATEAU 



277 



already gone down behind the mountain Count Teleki rushed 

 out with his gun. At the sound of his first shot there was a 

 loud shout of joy ; the fires which had been allowed to go out 

 were lit again. They were soon blazing cheerfully, and when 

 two zebras were brought in, the camp presented a most festive 

 appearance. 



Most of the traders decided to take the westerly route to 

 Ngongo Bagas, but Jumbe Kimemeta and some fifty of his 

 men remained with us. The traders who deserted us had had 

 no luck in buying pack-animals, as we had always spoilt 

 their market, and they were not likely to get any in Kapotei 

 or Dogilani, though they might possibly have bought ivory. 

 Moreover, they were probably tired of the strict discipline 

 enforced in our camp, and we were, truth to tell, by no means 

 sorry to get rid of them. 



On August 22 we were off again, the Turuka plateau rising 

 up in front of us like a perpendicular wall. The path wound 

 through a ravine, and the ascent took a long time, though we 

 had not really much more than 300 feet to climb. Once at 

 the top we had a perfectly uninterrupted view of the tableland 

 of Turuka, which is unbroken by so much as a tree or shrub. 

 The ground is covered with short steppe grass, strewn with 

 volcanic debris of all kinds, intermixed with bits of obsidian 

 and of red and yellow jasper. It is only on the west that the 

 sides are steep ; on the east the plateau slopes down to the 

 plain, extending on the north to the base of the table mountain 

 of Doenyo Erok la Kapotei, which is more than 6,000 feet high. 

 The whole plateau, as well as the neighbouring Mount Kimbay, 

 which is also flat-topped, are of volcanic origin, but the crater 

 from which were ejected these beds of lava and ashes, levelling 

 the whole district, must have lain somewhere farther to the 

 north, as in spite of a most careful search we could not find 

 it in the immediate neighbourhood. 



