A SECOND ASCENT. 
277 
they had not lost the collections, so after a short 
rebuke I was disposed to condone their fault; the 
more so, as I felt so thankful to return to warmth 
and shelter and familiar faces, that I little cared to 
pass the night in unprofitable scolding. 
The next day I was so worn out with fatigue that 
I could not go far beyond the settlement, and therefore 
spent my time chaffering with the men of Uru and 
Kiboso, who had arrived to hold another market. On 
the morrow, I once again made an attempt, this time 
alone, to reach the snows of Kibo, and just managed 
to do so, but the weather was again atrocious, and the 
bitter cold compelled me to return at an early hour, 
to avoid being benighted far from camp. The rain 
cleared about five o’clock, and on my homeward tramp 
I had one magnificent view of the dome of Kibo, 
thickly and freshly powdered with snow and roseate 
under the rays of the declining sun. I was struck by 
the numbers of great-billed ravens which together 
with one hawk circled and soared high up, near the 
snows of the mountain. Perhaps some adventurous 
buffalo had come to grief and they were watching 
from the heights above his struggles in a native’s pit- 
fall. I saw the dung and footprints of these buffaloes 
up to 14,000 feet, and it is possible that they pass 
backwards and forwards over the central ridge be¬ 
tween the northern and southern slopes of Kilima¬ 
njaro. I also saw the footmarks of a large antelope, 
possibly a koodoo, to judge from the natives’ descrip¬ 
tion. I might here remark that in spite of a month’s 
residence in these high altitudes, not to mention 
previous visits at other times, I never succeeded in 
seeing a specimen of the buffalo or big antelope who 
penetrate in their wanderings up to the very snow, 
