164 
A NATURAL HISTORY EXPEDITION 
that it was quite close by, and so on till we reached it 
at 9 a.m. 
Breakfast over, we lay around till 11.80, when Mr. Gemmell’s 
mule turned up, which was very kindly placed at Mr. Bush’s 
disposal for a week, as his feet were badly blistered. Our host 
told us that two nights before, when half a mile from camp, 
he came upon a troop of ten lions and three cubs ; being 
armed with nothing but a shot-gun, he remained quiet, and 
fortunately they did not molest him. He was at this time 
engaged in marking out the boundary line of the Masai Reserve, 
to which he conducted us. The boundary is marked by clearing 
all shrubs and trees for a width of about twenty feet, which 
gives it the appearance of a ride in a fir copse at home, only 
in this case it stretched away almost as far as the eye could 
see. Hour after hour we plodded along this through the 
Barra-barra, a famous lion country where Paul Rainey recently 
got seven or eight out of a troop of nine in one day. On 
reaching the survey beacon we turned off along a native 
track which passed through a variety of country. On some 
rocks I shot a brilliant Agama lizard whose head was coloured 
a rich brick-red, and the body, more particularly underneath, 
a vivid ultramarine blue. 
In some trees near an empty watercourse I secured a pair of 
bee-eaters (Merops pusillus), not so large as the species inhabit- 
ing the gorge, but, if possible, of more brilliant colouring, consist- 
ing of bright green, blue, yellow, and black. Also shot a glossy 
starling (Lamprocolius sycobius), a larger bird than the English 
species, and its plumage is of a most metallic electric blue. 
After walking for five miles across a plain which was like walking 
through an English hayfield, we reached the house of Mr. , 
where we were very hospitably entertained to tea and dinner. 
Next morning they were off to a camp near the little crater on 
Mount Siswa, and we were regaled with glowing accounts of 
the abundance of game, particularly buffalo, so we decided to 
accept their invitation to accompany them and return to our 
camp in the evening. 
July 20, 1915. — Started about eight. On the way up I 
visited their water-supply — a pot-hole in the dry and rocky 
river-bed. As in many pot-holes, the sides were undercut, and 
