A SECOND ASCENT, 
267 
companions and myself as rash men courting death, I 
turned my face to that quarter of the sky where the 
heavy concentration of cloud masses indicated the 
presence of the great Kibo. 
Starting at nine, I walked upwards, with few stop¬ 
pages, until 1.30. At first we crossed grassy, undu¬ 
lating hillocks, the road being fairly easy. Then we 
entered a heathy tract, scorched and burnt with 
recent bush fires, but higher up, where the blaze had 
not reached, the vegetation was fairly abundant and 
green. Small pink irises 1 studded the ground in 
numbers, an occasional gladiolus 2 of a vivid crimson 
gleamed brightly out from the tufted grass. About 
12,600 feet we struck a pretty little stream, flowing 
S.S.W., and lower down carving its way through a 
tremendous ravine, the sides of which were clothed 
with thick vegetation and gaily lit up with the bril¬ 
liant red-leaf shoots of the protea (Protea Abyssinica) 
shrub. At the place where we crossed the stream the 
banks were shelving, and above the little ford the 
water fell in pretty cascades through a rift in the 
higher ridge of rock. About this spot the surrounding 
scenery had lost much of its accustomed asperity. On 
the further side of the stream was a patch of level 
green sward, somewhat spoilt by the buffaloes who 
came thither to drink and sport, and who had rucked 
up and befouled much of this little natural lawn. 
Strange sessile thistles grew here, nearly five feet in 
circumference, belonging to the genus Carduus , also 
an extraordinary lobelia (Lobelia Declceni), three to 
four feet in height, with a teazle-like crown of silvery 
green bracts and bright blue blossoms. Other remark¬ 
able plants were the lovely Cynoglossum amplifolium , 
1 Dierama pendula. 2 Gladiolus Watsonioides. 
