WE VISIT AN EXTINCT CRATER 



219 



were rather glad to see smoke still ascending from the volcano 

 on the west, and looked forward eagerly to the next march, 

 which would bring us close to it. 



Our route led us at first in a south-south-westerly direction, 

 the loose, shifting sand of the coast being succeeded by a flat 

 tract covered with a layer of mussel shells about an inch thick, 

 looking like asphalt mixed with gravel. Later tlie direction 

 was more decidedly south-westerly, and the ground was strewn 

 with chaotic masses of sharp-edged rock from a man's head 

 to a cubic yard in size, which made walking most arduous, 

 especially to the bare-footed men, who were soon complaining 

 of their wounds. Here and there grew a few knotty acacias, 

 the only vegetation we passed for some time. 



After four hours' marching we camped beside a fissure-like 

 creek of the lake running up far inland, by the side of which 

 rose a little group of unfurcated Hyphema thebaica palms, their 

 fresh beauty contrasting vividly with the lifeless scenery around 

 them. We came upon them so unexpectedly that we at first 

 thought we were the victims of some Fata Morgana. The 

 shallow waters of the creek were Iiaunted by numerous ducks 

 and geese. 



In the afternoon we went off to examine the neighbourhood 

 more closely, chiefly, however, to pay a visit to the extinct 

 crater by the lake, the beautiful circular form of which we had 

 admired on our journey northward. We climbed up the wall 

 of rock some ninety feet high, forming the western bank of 

 the creek, and arriving at the top, looked down upon a very 

 characteristic landscape. Close to our left rose the deep black 

 conical mountain, as smooth and straight as a chimney, from 

 which issued clouds of smoke. On the right w^as the low 

 circular crater for which we were bound, with its steep sides 

 clothed with yellow, green, and red soil. A few paces before 

 us was the edge, some fifteen to thirty feet high, of a stream of 



