A BEAUTIFUL DISTRICT 



297 



of tlie size of a cherry which we found here reminded us of 

 that of the Judas-tree. 



We were now at a height of about 5,775 feet above the sea- 

 level. Heavy clouds obscured the sky ; the grass and bushes 

 reeked with wet, and the position was anything but pleasant 

 for the donkeys, goats, and sheep ; the Turkana asses especially, 

 used as they were to the hot dry climate of the desert, suffered 

 greatly from the damp cold. 



The next morning we climbed by a steep path to the 

 plateau, which is dotted with low, densely-wooded heights 

 running parallel with the edge, the ravines l^etween being over- 

 grown with tall grass. We took our altitude, and found it to 

 be 6,885 feet. The whole landscape was draped in mist, which 

 assumed fantastic forms ; the coniferous and juniper-like trees, 

 festooned with creepers, bent beneath the gusts of the strong 

 north-east wind, which seemed to bear on its wings songs from 

 our northern home, whilst the air was laden with the scent of 

 all manner of flowers. We were in what appeared to us the 

 most beautiful district we had seen on our long exjDedition, and 

 if ever the dreams of European colonists are realised in Central 

 Africa it will, without doubt, be on those portions of the Lei- 

 kipia and Kenia plateau which are between 5,000 and 7,000 

 feet above the sea-level. 



The march from the Gitiligin to the frontier of Kikuyuland 

 is generally done by caravans in one day, but we halted half- 

 wa}'-, in the open wilderness, on account of the rain, and did 

 not get to the swamp on the borders, alluded to by Thomson, 

 till the next morning, after tramping partly through tall steppe 

 grass and partly through woods, winding up, however, by 

 crossing a flat depression shut in by low treeless heights, which 

 was apparently the bed of a dried-up lake. Here we met the 

 first Wakikuyu, and heard once more, after a year's absence, 

 the familiar shouts of Kutire kimandaja ! and Moi\itta! which 



