Ill 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN' AFRICA 



83 



hills on the right bank were bold and precipitous, of red 

 sandstone, flecked here and there with green vegetation. 

 The largest of these hills is called Saleh's Hill, because 

 a few years before a Somali of that name was slain 

 there while raiding the natives. The country is now 

 deserted, and but for a few unoccupied kraals gives no 

 evidence of ever having been inhabited. 



On December 9, four days from Hameye, upon rising 

 at camp just at sunrise, we saw from a small hill a long, 

 blue range of high hills stretching in the far distance 

 to the north. What could these be } Perhaps they 

 were the southern parts of the General Matthews range. 

 While I was gazing my fill, Karscho, my gun-bearer, 

 cried out: "Look, master; down there is a large moun- 

 tain. I think it is the Kenya." He had seen this 

 mountain on the former journey with Lieutenant von 

 Hohnel. I seized my glasses, and unmistakably there 

 stood forth, free from clouds, the snow-peaked rival of 

 Kilimanjiro. I looked and looked ; but while gazing, as 

 if jealous of my eye, clouds gathered one by one, and 

 piled themselves around the crest, until it was hidden 

 from sight. At last we were in sight of new country ; 

 and my feelings were almost as joyous as those of 

 Moses, when he viewed the Promised Land. We knew 

 our route lay in the direction of that long range of 

 blue hills stretched far to the north of Kenya; and 

 beyond those we knew there lay a country as yet 

 untrodden by any white man. On the following day 

 we expected to reach the Mackenzie River ; and 

 the thought that from that point onward our work 

 would be wholly original filled us with pleasurable 

 excitement. 



