CHAPTER XVIII. 
TO MOCHE. 
WE left Taveta for Moche on August the 5th, 
about 8 a.m., and were accompanied by Muinyi 
Mbuana and party. The first part of our way lay 
through the leafy labyrinth " of the forest, through 
which there had once been pretty good paths, but 
there was nothing of the kind now. The late doings 
of the Masai had alarmed even the Wataveta. An 
attempt had been made by those warriors to break 
through the forest, and they had only been repulsed with 
difficulty. Open paths being regarded as too tempt- 
ing to the Masai, they had all been purposely closed. 
This had been most effectually done by cutting the 
trees at varying heights almost through the bole, and 
causing them to fall across the path, making such a 
complete barricade that it was with the utmost diffi- 
culty that we made any progress. 
Clearing the forest, the ground rose very perceptibly. 
* The country wore an autumnal aspect, very sere 
compared with the glowing emerald of Taveta, but a 
great improvement on the leaflessness and seeming 
lifelessness of the 3urrounding district. By noon we 
had climbed a ridge stretching from the east side of 
