150 



THROUGH JLTNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



sent men out in search of water. They returned about 

 nine in the evening, with the news that they had found 

 a small hole containing liquid mud in sufficient quantity 

 to suffice for the needs of our caravan. Mohamadi, the 

 headman of the porters, did not reach camp until nine 

 o'clock. The illness of one of the porters on the march 

 had delayed him. This porter seemed to have lost the 

 use of his limbs ; he was wofully thin, and, owing to 

 the fact that he had suffered from dysentery, had been 

 unable to subsist upon a meat diet. The meagre rations 

 we were compelled to allow him seemed insufficient for 

 the recovery of his strength. 



The following day, within one hour's march from our 

 camp, we found a pool filled with excellent water. Had 

 we known the night before of the existence of this pool, 

 we should have been saved a deal of trouble and worry. 

 We then had three men suffering from dysentery, and 

 Sururu, although his wound was healing nicely, was 

 unable to walk. Two of the sick men rode donkeys, but 

 Sururu and the porter suffering from exhaustion were 

 carried in hammocks. This number of sick greatly 

 retarded our progress, and we made but five miles on 

 that day. At every point of our route Mount Kenya 

 could be seen. The beauty and grandeur of this 

 mountain seemed to grow upon us. From our view- 

 point, the greatest apparent width of the mountain 

 extended from the northwest to the southeast. Its 

 irregular, snow-capped peak seemed to be many miles 

 away. Its sides declined to the northwest in a well- 

 defined ridge, until the mountain at length blended 

 and was lost in the Donyo Loldeikan. In a north- 

 easterly direction from the summit, and about half-way 



