THE MOUNT ELGON COUNTRY 
289 
other little farm-yard where cattle had been housed 
and where there were many evidences of the thrift 
and industry of the occupants. Gourds of milk 
were present in generous numbers, and as one’s eyes 
became accustomed to the semi-darkness all sorts of 
domestic paraphernalia were revealed. 
Little separate inclosures were fenced off for 
human tenantry, and the glow of embers gave a 
pleasant, homelike look to the place. Cavern after 
cavern extended back into the cliff, a network of 
them, hut how far they went would he hard to tell. 
Perhaps the cave in all its subterranean ramifica¬ 
tions has never been entirely explored. 
We wandered back through some of the caverns, 
sometimes stooping to get through and sometimes 
standing beneath domes thirty and forty feet high. 
And always that queer, mystical light, with exag¬ 
gerated shadows and sometimes black darkness 
ahead, where could be heard the drip, drip, drip of 
water in invisible lakes. In time of siege the hold¬ 
ers of this cave, with granaries filled and with herds 
of cattle and lakes of water, could hold the place 
for ever. 
The tenants of the place soon became pleasant 
and hospitable. Perhaps many of them had never 
seen white people before, but they sat down and 
watched us with friendly interest. There were 
many babies and they were all bright-eyed and 
rugged looking. 
While we were there the cattle were out on the 
open hills grazing, but in the evening the long herds 
