146 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



of food last until we could reach the Jombeni range. 

 The long marches of the last nine days had told 

 severely upon the strength of my men, and they one 

 and all presented a wofully emaciated appearance. 

 Moreover, Lieutenant von Hohnel and I, not more 

 from the excessive marching than from the coarseness 

 of our fare, seemed in great need of rest and better diet, 

 but to stop where we were was out of the question. In 

 camp we had food for two days. Motio, our guide, told 

 us that owing to the drought it would be impossible for 

 us to take the route via the Ngombe and Kora craters to 

 the mountains, but he assured us that there was a tribe 

 inhabiting the western portion of the range. These 

 people, he said, were called Wamsara. They were pos- 

 sessed of food in plenty, and as they were rarely visited 

 by traders, he felt sure they would give us a good recep- 

 tion, and gladly exchange their products for what trad- 

 inor-p;oods we had with us. We rested at our Christmas 

 camping-place one day, and on Friday, January 20, set 

 out for the Jombeni Mountains and food. 



The whole of the western side of this range, with the 

 exception of the portion inhabited by the Wamsara, is 

 bare of trees and wears a most forbidding aspect. From 

 the eastern slopes many small streams flow either into 

 the Mackenzie or Tana. From the western slopes, 

 however, no streams flow into the Guaso Nyiro, but 

 the water shed by these mountains silts through the 

 soil, and rises to the surface again in the form of 

 springs (for the most part strongly impregnated with 

 sulphate of magnesium) only in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the Guaso Nyiro. 



Motio told us that from this point it would take 



