236 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XVIII 
springs and a steam-vent on one of the islands in this 
lake "(see p. 247). 
Donyo Burn (Steam Mountain), situated under the Mau 
escarpment near Lake Naivasha, reaches a height of 
nearly 9,000 feet. Thomson visited this mountain and 
observed that two of the cones were composed largely 
of obsidian. The steam holes lie in a pit on the side of 
the mountain (7,055 feet). Clouds of vapour are 
ejected with a puffing sound. In places where the 
emission of steam is very copious it hissed as if it came 
from the safety-valve of an engine. The surrounding 
rock was so hot that the men could not walk on it, 
and was disintegrating, under the influence of the 
steam, into a crimson-red clay. This clay was considered 
to have a wonderful medicinal virtue, and the men 
painted themselves with it. 
The chief seat of volcanic activity in relation to the 
Rift Valley exists at the northern section, especially 
around the southern end of Lake Rudolf. There is in 
this region an active volcano. Mount Teleki. Mhen 
Donaldson Smith visited this region, a few years later 
than Teleki, a great stream of glowing lava issued from 
one of the craters. 
Near the shore of Lake Rudolf there is an extinct 
volcano. Mount Kuloll, nearly 6,000 feet high. The 
crater has fallen in and broken up. The mountain is 
split from top to bottom : “ The fissure is about twenty 
yards wide, and from the bottom it is scarcely possible 
to distinguish trees at the top, so high are the vertical 
walls.” (Donaldson Smith.) The upper slopes of the 
mountain are well wooded, whilst the base is proportion¬ 
ately barren. 
Around the lake there are masses of magnetic iron, 
wdiich so affected the compasses that the route could not 
be accurately mapped. When a compass was held 
“ near the ground the needle turned right round.” 
(L. von Holm el.) 
Kenia (or Kenya) is a stupendous mass (17,184 ft.) 
