ii8 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



as it forced its way between rocky banks. This bridge 

 was made of withes and looked frail, but it was suflfi- 

 ciently strong, and afforded room for the passage of a 

 lightly laden native. 



We had exhausted our store of meat at dinner the 

 night before, so that our Christmas feast consisted of 

 soup, fish, and beans. 



The next day we made an early start, and pursued our 

 way along the bank of the river, which at this point ran 

 nearly due east. From what Motio told us, we hoped to 

 reach Lake Lorian in three days. As we advanced, the 

 current of the Guaso Nyiro became swifter, and flowed 

 so deeply below the surface of the surrounding country 

 as to form a canon more than loo feet deep and about 

 300 feet wide. The soil on our side of the stream 

 was composed of lava dust, strewn with innumerable 

 blocks of the same material. The other bank, however, 

 gleamed with mica, showing that the formation there 

 was gneiss. 



Toward noon, just as I began to think of halting for 

 our mid-day meal, a dull, roaring sound reached my ears. 

 After going a half-mile further, the noise increasing all 

 the while, we reached a point where the plain fell to the 

 level of the river. There we found explanation of the 

 roaring sound. The Guaso Nyiro, meeting a wall of 

 black lava in its course, flows over it, and has a drop of 

 sixty feet. Even at the season of the year when we 

 visited it, and when the autumn rains had been very 

 slight, the falls presented an imposing appearance. The 

 wall of lava, being higher in the middle than at the sides, 

 divided the river into two streams. Below the falls these 

 two streams again met, and forced their way between 



