I CONSULT JUMA MUSSA 



419 



its course must be almost uninterruptedly broken by cascades 

 and rapids. 



As we should have to make our way further over the moun- 

 tains, and I had no wish to travel in the dark, I went off in the 

 afternoon with a few men to try and find a path. Beneath the 

 scorching rays of the sun we tramped about till we found a 

 height from which I could look down on the river, but I failed 

 to obtain any indications as to whether its further course was 

 eastward or westward. We had always made it a rule never to 

 consult anyone but Jumbe Kimemeta or Qualla, but as any 

 advice now could be but guesswork, I turned to Juma Mussa 

 and asked him, half in fun, which way he would go if he had to 

 lead the caravan, and he replied without a moment's hesitation 

 that he was quite sure the Guaso Nyiro flowed westward 

 behind a hill on the north to which he pointed, and that we 

 should soon come upon the river if we went in that direction. 

 Not believing a word he said, I yet decided to do as he sug- 

 gested, for at least he knew as much about it as I did myself ! 



So the next day we shouldered our packs and tramped 

 over stock and stone to the ridge behind which we hoped to 

 find our river again, passing by the way the spoors of numerous 

 rhinoceroses, and several elands and kobus antelopes, with an 

 antelope of an unknown sj^ecies, very like the female of the 

 bush antelope. We did not however get a single shot. On 

 the mountain were a good many tree euphorbias and several 

 specimens of a very handsome dragon-tree bearing at the top of 

 stems from 2 to 4 inches thick, and from 9 to 18 feet high, a 

 crown of light green leaves resembling a big bunch of stiff" grass 

 stems. After a march of several hours we reached the ridge, 

 and eagerly climbed it, hoping to look down from the top on to 

 the river, but alas ! we found ourselves on a dreary volcanic 

 plateau stretching far away on the north to the base of the 

 Loroghi chain, and on the west and north-west further than 



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