296 RETURN FROM LAKE BARINGO TO THE COAST 



equal in bulk to Mount Lonongot, the crater of wliich is, how- 

 ever, fractured, as well as the unmistakeable peaks of the 

 DoenyeLamuyo and the more distant Doenye Erok la Kapotei. 

 The country was deserted now, but a number of empty villages 

 and the well-trodden cattle-paths proved it to be the head- 

 quarters of the Masai at certain times of the year. We now 

 turned towards the steep and rugged slopes of the Leikipia 

 plateau, just then draped with heavy masses of rain-clouds, 

 and halted for the night by the Guaso Kedong, at the base of 

 the mountain. On our way we had met a party of Masai 

 women from Seringeti, a district ten days' march from the 

 Natron lake, who were going to Kikuyuland to exchange their 

 tobacco for makate or natron. 



Near our camp were what were probably the very oldest 

 traces of human habitation in any district visited by us, 

 viz., paths worn in the hard lava to a depth of from about 

 eight to twenty inches by the feet of cattle and their drivers. 

 Five or eight of these paths often run parallel with each 

 other, as if the distance between them had been carefully 

 measured. 



Oar next march led us in and out amongst the outlying- 

 spurs of the plateau to the Gitiligin stream, where the ascent 

 begins. The Gitiligin rises in the highlands, and near our camp 

 dashes down in a series of falls to join the Guaso Kedong, 

 which, after a short further south-easterly course, disappears 

 on Mount Suswa. The water of the Gitiligin is clear and luke- 

 warm, the temperature being +25°, whilst that of the atmo- 

 sphere was 18° Centigrade. Like most of the rugged ravines 

 of the Leikipia highlands, its banks were thickly wooded with 

 luxuriant bush and trees, amongst the latter being one bearing 

 a fruit resembling the medlar, with a delightful taste. The 

 Swahili called it miwiru, and the name Miwiruni, so often 

 given to camping-places, comes from it. Another edible fruit 



