THE COUNT RETURNS FROM KENIA 



371 



The change brought about in our surroundings by the rain 

 was cliarming. Woods and fields, which liad been so dry and 

 dreary-looking, were bursting everywhere with fresh life and 

 clothed with vivid green. The once barren Ndoro was con- 

 verted for a time into a perfect garden, and this sudden 

 awakening of nature was one of the most beautiful things we 

 witnessed in the course of our whole journey. The district 

 was now a regular paradise for the botanist, and I noticed 

 especially an immense number of bulbous plants which would 

 have delighted the heart of a collector. 



It must, however, have been different in the loft}^ regions of 

 Kenia where Count Teleki now was. The mountain was con- 

 tinuously shrouded in heavy clouds, the peak appearing but 

 seldom, and then only for a few moments at a time. Masses of 

 snow, extending far down the slopes, betrayed what the state 

 of things must be on the heights. All these made me very 

 anxious for the Count's return, and I was indeed glad to 

 welcome him back when he appeared at last on the afternoon 

 of the 25th in good health and spirits. Contrary to my 

 expectations, the trip had been perfectly successful ; Kenia 

 having been ascended to a height of 15,355 feet, and the 

 nature of its crater and slopes ascertained. Only about two 

 or three thousand feet still await their conqueror. 



Count Teleki gave me the following account of his expedition. 



' On October 17 we marched towards Kenia in a north- 

 easterly direction, crossing three small brooks and camping by 

 the last. In the ravines of the brooks grew various coniferous 

 trees mostly resembling the arbor vitas variety, but on the slopes 

 of the mountain the only vegetation was coarse steppe grass. A 

 good many zebras, elands, and kobus antelopes or water-bucks — 

 we had seen none of the last since we left Lake N5dri — were met 

 with near the clumps of trees, and the presence even of elephants 

 was betrayed by the noise of the cracking of branches. 



B B 2 



