446 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
the water. I was disappointed. I found myself here 
on the edge of a precipice, the descent of which a 
glance convinced me was impossible, at least, with- 
out such appliances as I could not command. I 
moved a little farther down the northern side, and I 
will describe what I saw, and, if you please, what I 
heard there. I saw a very beautiful sheet of water, 
though of no great extent, say about three miles in 
circumference. In colour it was a deep cerulean, as 
blue as the sea. Thousands of tiny ripples played 
over its surface, and fell in soft murmurings among 
the white stones, piled up almost like a wall, or 
fancy grotto, one above another, round its verge. I 
listened, but I heard nothing more. The lake is 
triangular in shape, with the corners, however, rounded 
off, and the base forming its western side. It is sur- 
rounded by an almost circular ridge of hills, rising 
above the surface of the water to a height of from 
1 50 to 300 feet. Immediately round the water's 
edge runs a course of white stones ; thence rises, for 
the most part, a perpendicular wall of rock, in the 
hollows and upon the ledges of which various bushes 
and trees have found existence ; above this wall is a 
belt of jungle, among the growths of which there 
were some good-sized trees ; then follow grassy slopes 
to the top of the ridge. The whole formation looks 
Hke the crater of an extinct volcano which has been 
filled with water. 
It is one of nature's curiosities. So far as I could 
see it has neither inlet nor outlet. It is impossible 
that the water should enter it on any side except 
that of the north-west ; for everywhere else the 
encircling, unbroken ridge falls on the outside, in 
