A SUBMERGED CRATER 



101 



Our further marcli was along the eastern shore of the lake 

 to the northern extremity, and I will quote my account of the 

 trip from my journal. 



Wednesday, March 7. — Before daybreak a few Askari and 

 Somal had been sent to seek the two missing men, but for all 

 that the caravan got under way and pressed on along the shore 

 over sand and debris, or between blocks of rock, first for a 

 short distance eastward, then northward. Near the banks 

 the lake is shallow, and there are no signs of animal or vege- 

 table life upon the beach. This may be the result of the east 

 wind, which blows unintermittently with more or less force 

 here, and we had still much to suffer from its violence. There 

 were many traces on our path of the previous passage of 

 camels, goats, and sheep, and now and then we came upon 

 a bleaching corpse. Lembasso told us that a raiding party 

 had passed this way not long ago, and that the Turkana often 

 made the districts round Mount Kulall unsafe. 



In the early morning light we were able to see the volcanic 

 surroundings of the lake with the big island better than 

 we had been able to the day before. We counted five craters, 

 from only one of which, however, was yellowish smoke issuing. 

 The rim of this crater was of a bright orange colour, whilst 

 the rest of the volcano was as black as a coal. At the southern 

 end of the lake was an almost submerged crater of a beautiful 

 circular form. The island presented an extraordinary appear- 

 ance, consisting as it did of a series of apparently extinct vol- 

 canoes of a relative height of from 160 to 400 feet. Altogether 

 we counted sixteen craters. The slopes of the conical mountain 

 appeared to be barren and covered with different-coloured 

 ashes. The south-eastern side of the island ended in a perpen- 

 dicular cliff, against which the waves of the lake broke with 

 great force. The surface of the lake was considerably rufiled 



