Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/425

 LAKE BARINGO. 841 Mount-uin " nearly 9,000 feet hiji^h, which is pierced by " steam-holes," from which at short intervals and with remarkable regularity are puffed or hissed out clouds of vapour, accompanied sometimes by a gurgliug sometimes by a rumbling noise. The Masai approach these orifices with superstitious awe, custing in tufts of grass in order to propitiate the troubled hpirits of the earth. They also collect the crimson- red clay of the rock decomposing through the action of the steam, and smean themselves all over with this ochre, which is supposed to have much virtue in conjuring the adverse fates. The mountain, on which the vent-holes have fre- quently been displaced, no longer preserves the typical fprm of a volcano. The numerous cones which have successively broken out and again subt'idcd in close proximity to each other, have at last been merged in a single irregular mass. Farther north, the depression the deepest part of which is occupied by the Naivasha basin, is bounded by a hilly plain where the bosses of eruptive scoriae have also become intermingled in a confused mass. All these formations are more- over broken into polygonal sections by numerous lines of faults or fissures. These are disposed with such regularity that in many places the effect is produced of the moats and ramparts of fortified lines. In all the cavities are seen the skeletons of thousands of dead trees, killed by some unknown cause, possibly by some eruption of mephitic gases, or rather, as Thomson suggests, through the decrease of the rainfall brought about by the slow modifications of the climate. Lake Barixgo. Beyond this desolate region of bare rocks and crevasses, the depressions of the valley are flooded by other lakes, such as Elmeteita and Nakuro. Seen from a dis- tance extensive tracts along the margin of Elmeteita seem to be diffused by a pinky glow, an effect caused by the multitudes of flamingoes frequenting these waters. A little to the north of the circular saline basin of Lake Nakuro, a small stream flow- ing northwards in the same direction as the general line of fault which skirts the western waterparting, winds between the two parallel plateaux as far as the southern extremity of Baringo or Mbaringo. Since the time of Speke's expedition this sheet of water was supposed to form the north-east gulf or inlet of Victoria Nyanza ; but it is now known to be completely isolated, occupying a closed basin about 200 square miles in superficial area. Yet although it has no visible outlet, its waters are perfectly fresh, without the least trace of salinity and teeming with animal life. Thomson, the first European by whom it has been visited, expresses his surprise that it does not increase in volume, rectiving as it does considerable contributions all the year round, even during the dry season. He found that from one period to the other the difference in the lacustrine level scarcely exceeded twenty-four inches, and to explain this slight annual oscillation, as well as the total absence of salt from the lake, he advances the theory of a possible underground emissary, through which the overflow may be carried off. But it would be pre- mature seriously to discuss this somewhat improbable hyjwthesis, until an accurate