222 



THROUGH TURKANA AND SUK 



liim with reproaches that he had not immediately reported this 

 to me, but his negligence could not now' be made up for as we 

 had no time to lose and were forced to proceed. I made him 

 carefully point out to me the exact locality of the place in 

 question, but though I looked through my glass I could see 

 neither vapour nor any other sign that might have denoted the 

 existence of a second active volcano. I ultimately decided to 

 make a last effort to reach the neighbourhood of the crater. 

 The base of the cone was enclosed on all sides by solidified 

 streams of lava, so that it was necessary to cross these to reach 

 the mountain. Bearing in mind our trying experiences of the 

 previous day, when the unsafe ground had deterred us from 

 going on, I decided to attempt the narrowest part, about 150 

 yards in width. To achieve this I had first of all to climb quite 

 a low hill of ancient volcanic origin. This I was compelled to 

 do alone, for I could not take any of my barefooted companions 

 with me, as the ground in places was thickly strewn with 

 sharp vitreous scorias. The nearer I approached the cone the 

 more dangerous the ground became, as crevices began to occur 

 more frequently, most of them being covered with a treacherous 

 crust of earth. Finally a fissure, twenty to twenty-five yards 

 wide and three or four deep, put an end to further progress. 

 To have gone round it would have entailed too much time, 

 and I had none to spare, as the caravan had meanwhile moved 

 on without halting. 



The march assumed a north-westerly course hard by two 

 older craters, the walls of which were broken down on the 

 northern side ; on the right the path ran along by the edge of 

 ancient streams of lava and scorias. Though these had not yet 

 begun to show traces of weathering, still isolated gnarled bushes 

 had managed to take root in many of their hollows. A couple 

 of low black hills, resembling gigantic mounds of soot, appeared 

 to the west of the active volcano, and to the north-west near the 



