LAKE BARINGO 



53 



easterly spur, up a barren, stony slope. The first stage led us 

 close to a creek of the lake, the eastern shore of which is quite 

 free from rushes, whilst the sandy ground was evidently origin- 

 ally part of the lake bottom. When we turned east we 

 escaped the clouds of red dust in which we had been smothered 

 on the plain, but the mountain slope was so encumbered with 

 huge sharp-edged masses of volcanic debris that it was difficult 

 to progress. To make up for this, however, we had an exten- 

 sive view of the vast surface of the lake, some 140 square 

 miles in extent, with its islands, bays, and gulfs, the plains on 

 the south being spread out beneath us as on a map. The west 

 and north-west shores are rocky, but those on the south are flat 

 and overgrown with reeds. We could make out a number of 

 little islands in the north-western corner of the lake, as well as 

 one large and four smaller in the southern portion. The form 

 and position of the latter led us to suppose that they are the 

 remains of a sunken crater from which the eastern side is 

 gone. Lake Baringo is about 3,658 feet above the sea-level. 

 It has no outlet, but the water is sweet and drinkable. There 

 can be little doubt that it was originally of very much greater 

 extent, and it is more than likely that the two swamps near 

 it were produced by the drawing back of its waters. 



Arrived at the top- of the saddle, we saw on the north-east 

 a broad valley watered by the Mogodeni stream. The Leikipia 

 plateau extends considerably further east, and the ridge on 

 which we stood was but a small insignificant spur of the main 

 formation. It was a long way still to the Mogodeni, and the 

 Count, who had been here before on one of his hunting trips, 

 asked the guide if there was no Avater nearer. We were 

 fortunate enough to find some in a deep ravine* quite close to 

 where we were, so we decided to camp there at once, much to 

 the delight of our men, who had not yet got into the way of 

 long marches again. 



