Through the Wilderness. 319 
but we were soon sought for and taken to our party. 
We were now at the foot of Kisigau. We had come 
upon it almost in the centre of its eastern side. The 
Bendari, or mart for caravans, was on the southern side 
of the mount, so that we had now to turn to our left 
and make our way round its south-eastern spur. The 
plantations were very extensive, and bore fine crops of 
maize, gourds, and pulse. The maize was of another 
species to that grown upon the coast, being shorter of 
stalk and much fuller in the ear. Gourds were very 
abundant, and they are an article in which a some- 
what brisk trade is carried on between, the Wataita 
and the Wanika. 
We reached the camping-place at noon. It was a 
sylvan spot within a thick clump of acacia trees, which 
obscured the prospect. When the tent had been 
pitched,! sallied forth to look at my surroundings, and I 
found myself in a natural amphitheatre of magnificent 
proportions. The rock rose in the centre to a height 
of between three and four thousand feet, crowned with 
a dense wood, and falHng thence, first, in tremendous 
precipices, and then in steep, rocky, half-green de- 
clivities, down to my feet. Right and left it extended 
in abruptly falling ridges to the level of the plain. 
In the centre of the recess thus formed I was sur- 
prised to see a few cocoa-nut palms growing, and far 
away up the mountain-side also I discovered a few 
more. They had been brought hither and planted, I 
was informed, by some Wasuahili of one of the many 
caravans which pass this place on their way into the 
interior. They seemed to be doing pretty well, 
although they did not look so healthy as those grow- 
ing nearer the coast. Sugar-cane was cultivated in 
