Peaks of the Central Group. 
towards the valley was precipitous. They were therefore 
obliged to go down to the lakes. 
Soon after midday the little party, leaving a portion of its 
loads on the col so as to move more rapidly, started afresh, and 
first skirted the western slope at the same level, very little 
under the pass but above the forest of senecios, in order to 
reach the ridge of the south-west spur of Kiyanja. 
From here they descended towards the lower of the two little 
lakes. The descent was steep, the mud was slippery, and their 
way led through a forest of senecios and clumps of helichrysum, 
which the guides cut and broke with blows of their ice-axes to 
clear a path. There were great smooth slabs to be avoided, 
which here and there stuck out of the ground and were 
too steep to walk upon. The porters kept striking their loads 
against the low and dense ramifications of the senecios, slipped 
on the big stones, stumbled among the dead trunks and 
branches which lay half-buried in the mud, and had to 
be incessantly encouraged and urged to proceed. They were 
overhung by the precipitous sides of Kiyanja, which threatened 
them with stone falls. As they neared the bottom of the 
valley, they were surprised to find a vast tract of senecio 
forest, where the trunks and branches were bare, blackened, 
and partially carbonized by recent fire. There was no sign 
to indicate the passage of man, nor was it probable that the 
inhabitants of the valleys would have pushed so far up 
without cause ; hence it must be supposed that the fire was 
either spontaneous or caused by lightning. The dense mantle 
of dead leaves which hangs downwards around every branch of 
the senecio under the terminal bunch of green leaves, and which 
is one of the chief features in the strange aspect of this 
curious plant, offers abundant fuel for fire and is as easy to 
171 
