TRIP TO THE SOUTH OF LAKE JIPE. 
243 
talked of making a trip to Mount Mem to pass the 
time until the loads, he had abandoned for want of 
carriers, should arrive, after which he intended to pro¬ 
ceed, in the hope of carrying out his original programme 
of crossing Masai-land. 
On the 5th of April, having bade good-bye to the 
Count and wished him all luck, C- and I left 
Taveta and encamped for the night at our old quarters 
by the shores of the lake. I shot some florican, spur- 
fowl, guinea-fowl, and partridges on the way, and C- 
shot a Kirkii and a mpallah. The next day we pro¬ 
ceeded to the end of the lake and pitched our tents as 
near to the water’s edge as the dense fringe of the thick 
reeds and rushes would permit, and saw plenty of 
hippopotami, several Walleri, and a great many pretty- 
plumaged birds and water-fowl of all descriptions ; but 
we only shot a few sand-grouse, partridges, and a lovely 
blue African kingfisher. The surrounding country was 
somewhat unhealthy, owing to the low-lying ground and 
the bad water, which was of a pea-green colour, and 
smelt most disagreeably notwithstanding plenty of boil¬ 
ing and filtering; the latter process did not succeed in 
changing the colour nor in removing all the fungus 
growth, and finally the apparatus got choked with slime 
and struck work altogether. 
The afternoon of our arrival we went for a stroll in 
different directions to have a look at the ground, C- 
selecting the bush that runs down almost to the shores 
of the lake, while I explored the open plains, in most 
places perfectly flat and level, and therefore most 
