302 
IN AFRICA 
Only one time during the several weeks that we 
were in sight of it was its summit capped with snow. 
A few species of small animals live in the crater, 
but no human beings. At night ice formed in the 
little pools where we camped and a furious wind, 
biting cold, swept down from the peaks and eddied 
out of the great gap where the Turkwel flows. 
To all of our safari it was a welcome hour when 
we struck camp, preparatory to leaving the crater 
for the lower levels. The guides said there were 
only two ways out—one by the Turkwel gorge and 
the other by the route up which we came. The for¬ 
mer might lead us far from any sources of food 
supplies, which by that time were becoming impera¬ 
tively necessary, and the latter was undesirable un¬ 
less as a last resort. After some deliberation we 
resolved to climb over the eastern rim and strike for 
the Nzoia River. No one had ever been known to 
• 
take this course, but we felt that we could cut our 
way out and make trails sufficient to follow. 
The guides refused to go, because by doing so 
they would enter a district where they might en¬ 
counter tribes that were hostile to their own. On 
one side of this mountain there was a bitter tribal 
war even then under way. So we cheerfully said 
good-by to the Elgonyi guides and slowly climbed 
the rock rim and started for the unknown. 
For two days we climbed downward, sometimes 
along ancient elephant trails and sometimes along 
the sheep trails made by the flocks of mountain 
tribes. Several times we came upon deserted Wan- 
