MASAI LAND. 
549 
It is from the north side, however (and here we must 
anticipate the course of our narrative, that the grandest 
view of the whole mountain can be obtained. Standing 
a short distance off on the great Njiri plain, we see the 
entire mountain horizontally and vertically, without 
moving the head. Rising from the almost level sandy 
plain at an altitude of about 3000 feet, it springs at an 
even angle to a sheer height of 15,000 feet, unbroken by 
a single irregularity or projecting buttress. No cones or 
hills diversify its surface. Neither gorge nor valley cuts 
deep into its sides. You see on your left the great cone 
of Kimawenzi with only one or two slight indentations 
sweeping round in a saddle-shaped depression, to spring 
up into a dome of the most perfect proportions, curving 
over as if projected by an architect’s hand, rather than 
that of nature, which abhors unbroken lines. 
The snow-cap shows here to great advantage, forming 
a close-fitted, glittering helmet artistically laid on the 
massive head of Kibo, and at times looking not unlike 
the aureole, as represented in many old pictures of saints, 
as it scintillates with dazzling effect under the tropical 
sun. The resemblance to an aureole is made all the more 
complete by the manner in which long tongues or lines 
of snow extend down the mountain side, filling up a 
series of seams or flutings, formed, doubtless, by the 
erosive action of the melting snow, which, going on in- 
cessantly, counterbalances the continuous fall. Here 
still more than on the south side is Kilimanjaro lacking 
in the picturesque. You are not startled or bewildered 
by a multiplicity of detail. The magnificent mass only 
suggests a divine repose and grandeur. It impresses 
you by its stupendous size. In contemplating it you 
experience much the same sensations as when you stand 
by the sea-side on a calm day, gazing into the boundless 
distance, filled by that dreamy, pleasing melancholy, 
rising into awe, with which many aspects of Nature 
inspire its votaries. Nature, indeed, seems to consider 
this spectacle too sacred to be always seen, and keeps it, 
as a rule, enveloped in soft, grey mists and stratus clouds. 
Occasionally its godlike presence is revealed as it greets 
