extraordinary vegetation of the alpine zone of the mountain. The unbroken side of the valley, crowned with owl-haunted crags, has a moist peaty soil, in which are set yard-broad hemispherical tufts of wiry grass, each tuft having a moist rotten centre. Well beaten rat-paths ramify in all directions between the tufts, while every here and there are groups of cactus-like giant lobelia, of which some send up tall spikes bearing the flowers. In general appearance very like the lobelia, except as regards the flower, is a species of giant groundsel with silvery leaves; but the greatest curiosity of all is the tree groundsel, with a thick dark trunk 8 or 10 feet high, surmounted by a cactus-like head of green leaves, beneath which is pendant a mass of dead leaves, dry as tinder towards their tips, but moist and rotten near the trunk. Occasionally a tall spike, several feet in height, bearing yellow groundsel flowers and fluffy seeds, stands erect above the leaf-head, or broken and leaning gauntly to one side. In other spots are yellow composites, something like dandelions, but with blossoms sessile on the ground, and bushy everlasting flowers. Beautiful sunbirds with lark-like song fly from lobelia to lobelia.

That evening, as we were on the point of returning to the camp, a lighted match was dropped, for it never occurred to us that where the ground was boggy to the tread any special precaution was needful against fire. But the fire spread behind us with alarming rapidity, feeding on the surface of the grass tufts and the dry ends of the dead groundsel leaves. Next morning, when we set out with eight porters to carry stores up to form a depôt, a great column of smoke rose in front of us, and above it was white cloud drifting away to north-west, as though the volcano were once more in activity. Fortunately the men had boots with them, and, beating an entry through the hissing line of red flames, which broke into a roar as they grasped a tree groundsel or shrub heath, we raced for 50 yards through the acrid smoke. It was fully a quarter of a mile before we could see and breathe freely again, and then we were in a new land. The mountain-side was black, covered with velvety mounds which had once been grass tufts, but set with thousands of gleaming points-the silvery groundsels, which had been protected by the moisture cupped in their broad leaves. Presently we realized that we were within a vast circle of fire, and that the whole of the collecting-ground convenient to our middle camp was endangered. We determined to preserve the upper Höhnel valley, and fought the fire for two hours, at last with success, though a long watch was still necessary to check the flames which every now and again broke from the border of the smouldering area. The sun went down that evening amid smoke-banks of mauve and orange, the orb itself changing from blood-red to a glorious ruddy gold, while above were roseate and pale green clouds. The after-glow was of copper. As night settled down the ruddy glare rose high over the edges of the deep black valley,

and the silver groundsels gleamed weirdly in the diffused light; but in rear-to eastward-was the cold dark valley head, the reward of our struggle in the afternoon.

The next morning we went up to the col above us and looked across the Teleki valley-in and from which Teleki and Gregory reached their highest points-on to the rocks and glaciers of the central peak. We chose, from a distance, the position of our topmost camp, a mile from the foot of the ice, and then returned to our tents by the rushing Höhnel stream, to receive a further relay of stores and to prepare for the final advance on the following day. But that afternoon a message came up from Hausburg, who had just arrived at the middle camp, to

the effect that two of our Swahilis had been murdered, and that the base camp was nearly devoid of supplies. I immediately left the two guides where they were, and joined Hausburg at sunset.

It appeared that the food caravan sent out on the 18th, in charge of Sulimani, had duly arrived at Wangombe's, and that the porters had bought food for themselves, and also a small quantity to be added to our store. Wangombe then said that he could not get much more in his village, and asked that men should be sent with him to make purchases in another village. This Sulimani refused to arrange, but Sudullah, an energetic and favourite askari, insisted on going, and five others volunteered to go with him. Wangombe and many of his men accompanied them. While passing through a banana shamba, our

party was attacked with arrows and spears by a force in ambush, led, apparently, by Wangombe's brother. A fight ensued, in which two men fell on our side, and, it was reported, five on that of the enemy. The remainder of our men got back to camp, bringing with them the weapons of their slain adversaries, but Sudullah was unfortunately one of the killed. Wangombe came to Sulimani that evening, asking him to stay where he was, as he wished for a shauri in the morning; but Sulimani struck camp at midnight, and returned to Hausburg on the morning of the 21st. On the 22nd Hausburg despatched Sulimani with thirty-five men, including the two Masai guides, to buy food at the Government station on Lake Naivasha, and leaving the base camp, now protected by a good boma, in charge of Ali, the interpreter, himself came up the mountain to consult with me.

On August 24 Hausburg and I went down again to the base, taking Saunders with us and all the food that could be spared. After going carefully through our stock, we determined to divide everything eatable between the men who still remained at the camp, and to despatch them in Sulimani's track towards Naivasha. They refused to stir without a white man to lead them, and we had reluctantly to give the charge to our collector, Mr. Saunders. The Masai guides had gone with the previous party, and Saunders had to undertake the crossing of an untraversed country with no better guide than a pocket-compass and an envelope bearing approximate directions. On the evening of the 25th, having accompanied the caravan a short distance on the way, Hausburg and I turned aside to shelter for the night under the lee of a valley brink, with feelings of no little anxiety for the fate both of Sulimani and Saunders. The garrison on the mountain had food for about three weeks.

The next day we returned through the forest to the middle camp, and, while Hausburg helped Camburn to collect there and in the Höhnel valley, I rejoined César and Joseph in the Teleki valley, where they had established our top camp and built a stone hut. Thence, in the early morning of the 30th, we set out on our first attempt to climb the peak.

The central peak of Kenya is a pyramid of highly crystalline rock, cleft at the summit into two points, standing north-west and south-east of one another, the north-western being some 30 or 40 feet higher than the other, and the two perhaps 1000 feet higher than any other point on the mountain. The Masai have a legend that they had their origin on Kenya, and I propose that the twin points should be named after the great Masai chief, Batian, and Nelion, his brother. I owe the suggestion to Mr. S. L. Hinde. Nearly three-quarters of a mile to south-eastward an ice-clad peak, visible from the plains of Laikipia, rises to about 16,300 feet, and for this I suggest the name of the living Masai chief, Lenana. Between Lenana and the central peak are glacier passes from

which descend to northward and southward respectively, the two chief glaciers of Kenya, which have been named after Gregory and Lewis. As the word Kenya is probably a corruption of the Masai word signifying "mist," it seems appropriate, on that as well as physical grounds, to describe the notch in the summit between Batian and Nelion as the "Gate of the Mist."

Our way led up the left lateral moraine of the Lewis glacier, then

diagonally across the glacier to a snow-filled couloir near its northwestern corner. A short distance up the couloir we turned to the left and climbed the eastern face of the southern arête of the peak. We were here delayed by three mauvais pas and the treacherous nature of the fissured rock. On the ridge we were further delayed by the broken character of the edge, which compelled frequent traverses, so that night fell upon us at the foot of the point Nelion. We therefore sought a slab of rock just below the arête on its western side, and, after such food as could be afforded, tied ourselves to the rocks and prepared for the twelve hours of equatorial darkness. We were at an elevation of No. V.-MAY, 1900.]

2 I

about 16,800 feet, but the cold was fortunately less than at the camp in the hollow of the head of the Teleki valley. It was not until 2 a.m. that the east wind, which had been moaning and screaming through the chinks of the rock-wall behind us, began to reach over and to stroke us with paws of cold air, making us draw close together and beat our knees. The sky was cloudless, and the stars, shining like lamps without twinkling, shed light enough to reveal the lakelets on the Two Tarn col to west of us. At 3 p.m. the moon rose, casting a cold light over the vast cloud roof of Kikuyu, and by diffused illumination making clear the surface of the Darwin glacier in the shadow of the precipice, 1500 feet beneath us. In the morning we climbed a little higher, aiming at the

point Nelion, but were speedily brought up by a cleft cut completely through the peak, dividing the southern arête from Nelion. We had no alternative but to abandon the effort and return to our camp.

Hausburg and I now changed places, and while he and the two guides took the photographic camera, in one long day, completely round the foot of the peak, I went down on to the Laikipian plain to watch for the return of our caravans. I had to traverse the smouldering remains of a fire, which had seized the lower edge of the Kenya forest where it was crossed by our path.

As the days went by, spent chiefly in scanning the plain with a glass, and no one approached us, my wait became an anxious one; and