48 AT NYEMPS 



One thing we did find out, that there were several routes 

 to the lake or lakes, the shortest, impracticable except in 

 the rainy season, leading northwards close to Lake Baringo 

 and passing Mount Nyiro, inhabited by a wretched tribe 

 hitherto unknown to us, called the Burkeneji ; another 

 making a wide detour over the highlands of Leikipia also 

 to Mount Nyiro, and a third passing through inhabited dis- 

 tricts on the west of Lake Baringo. 



It was long before we came 

 to any decision, but we were still 

 determined to explore the whole 

 of the lake district, and we could 

 either go by the westerly and 

 return by the easterly route, or 

 vice versd. The little map given 

 herewith will show the position 

 we supposed the lakes to occupy, 

 and the character of the sur- 

 rounding country, and it will be 

 seen from it also that we expected 

 to find inhabitants who might 

 help us on our way on the west, 

 but none on the east, the larger 

 lake, apparently impassable, lying 

 between the two. The easterly 

 route, therefore, would present the greater difiiculties, and to 

 choose it would be to have to press on for an indefinite 

 distance through a lonely and probably barren wilderness, 

 whilst if we went by the west we were at least sure of getting 

 to the big lake, and of returning safely if we were unable to 

 penetrate further north. But then came the thought, suppose 

 all our calculations were based on errors, and we found 

 ourselves hopelessly stranded in an unknown desert after all ! 



IMAGINARY MAP OF THE DISTRICT 

 NORTH OF OUR CAMP AT NYEMPS. 



