VII 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



269 



June 1 1 was my twenty-sixth birthday ; it was spent 

 upon the bleak side of the crater. With the excep- 

 tion of the caravan, there was no sign of life in view. 

 Even in the rainy season this portion of the desert is 

 never covered with grass. Small, stunted, and almost 

 lifeless mimosa raised their twisted forms here and there 

 on the plain. Of game there was none ; and were it 

 not for the well-beaten path which leads from the crater 

 to the Jombeni range, one might imagine one's self 

 thousands of miles away from life in any form. How- 

 ever, I accepted as my birthday present the fact that 

 the water in the crater proved drinkable. Disagreeable 

 though its flavour, my men seemed really to enjoy it. 

 It was months since many of them had tasted salt, so 

 that they welcomed its taste as a delicacy, and feasted 

 the entire day upon what was left of the rhinoceros 

 meat. From the Ngombe crater our route to the 

 Guaso Nyiro lay more to the southward than the one 

 made use of upon our Lorian journey. Our Wan- 

 derobbo guide told us that he would lead us in two 

 days to a place where we could ford the Guaso Nyiro 

 River. To find such a place was an absolute neces- 

 sity, for we knew the stream would be much swollen 

 by the recent rains, and altogether impassable in most 

 places. 



The next day we marched twelve miles across the 

 desert lying between the Jombeni range and the river. 

 What was our surprise to find in the centre of the 

 desert a large bubbling spring, shaded by acacia trees. 

 There we pitched our camp. About eight miles to 

 the southward rose Mount Chabba; and due east, just 

 above the level of the desert, we could discern the tops 



