Crested Cranes in Flight 264 Vultures and Marabous 265 Herd of Waterbuck 270 Oryx Antelopes 271 Grant’s Gazelles 276 Hartebeests near the Western ’Ndjiri Swamps 277 Map of a Day’s Movements and Observations 279 Flamingoes on the Margin of the Natron Lake 281 A Francolin perched on a Thorn-bush 283 Flight of Sandfowl 287 Zebras and Gnus _facing_ 292 An Alarum-turaco 295 Nest of Weaver-birds 301 A Shrike on the Look-out 309 Brook with an Underground Channel 315 [Illustration: A GIRAFFE PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN IN THE SHIMMERING LIGHT OF THE VELT.] I The Spell of the Elelescho On the afternoon of January 14, 1897, a small caravan of native bearers, some fifty strong, was wearily making its way across the wide plain towards its long-wished-for goal, Lake Nakuro, which was at last coming, into sight in the far distance. The appearance of the bearers and their worn-out clothing showed plainly that the caravan had made a long journey. And so it was. Weakened by fever, I was coming from the Victoria Nyanza in the hope of making a quicker recovery in this more elevated district. As is the way when one is convalescent, life seemed to me something doubly beautiful and desirable now that, after lying seriously ill for weeks, I was recovering from the fever. I had been all but despaired of by the English officers who had kindly taken care of me, Mr. C. W. Hobley and Mr. Tompkins, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. I had caught the disease in the marshes of the Nyanza and in my tramp through the wild Sotik and Nandi country, then unexplored or very little known. During the last few days our march had once more been imperilled by hostile tribes, the rebel Wakamassia, but this danger was all but past now that we were entering the uninhabited region of the Nakuro, Elmenteita and Naiwasha Lakes, in the district known to the Masai as En’aiposha. [Illustration: MY “BOYS”--BODY-SERVANTS AS DISTINGUISHED FROM BEARERS--AMUSED THEMSELVES AT MOSCHI BY ORGANISING WHAT IS CALLED A “GOMA.”] Endless undulating, expanses of grassy country, unadorned by a single tree, had made our last days of marching not too pleasant. Now there was a marked downward incline of the grass-covered plateau; it gradually changed to a barren plain of volcanic origin, and the view extended over the wide glittering lake.