322 



TO KENIA 



having acliieved the blood-brotherhood we were so anxious 

 about. 



Late in the afternoon it rained heavily, much to our regret, 

 as the difficulties of the path were bad enough when it was 

 dry. We did our best for the donkeys by feeding them up 

 with sugar-cane, which is very nourishing and which they eat 

 greedily. These grey Muscat asses are used to the steppes, 

 and the dryer and hotter it is the better they like it, whilst 

 damp cold soon kills them. 



During the next day's march we saw no gesticulating 

 natives, only a few silent groups squatting by the wayside, 

 some of them with ajreen bous-hs in their hands. After walking 

 a short distance we came to a somewhat broader valley through 

 which flowed a little brook. Just as we were j)i"eparing to 

 cross it the rain came down in torrents. It continued to pour 

 for hours, and the steep banks became so slippery that we 

 could hardly keep our footing on them. The men slid down 

 somehow with many a fall, but we had to unlade the donkeys, 

 and even then it was all we could do to get them over. It took 

 us four hours to climb the ridge on the other side, which 

 was only some 330 feet high. 



Our slow progress was dreadfully depressing ; one or more 

 of our donkeys succumbed every day, and at this rate we feared 

 we should lose them all before we got to the frontier. We 

 therefore asked our guide if there were no other route ; it 

 seemed very probable that the hills on the east were not so 

 steep, and that we might find paths going north in that direc^ 

 tion. With his consent we now deviated from the course 

 pursued thus far, striking along the ridge eastward, arriving 

 at three o'clock at a good-sized brook. 



We pitched our camp close to the water in a narrow ravine 

 shut in on three sides by pretty steep hills. The natives we 

 had passed on our way here and those who visited us now 



