New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-15

Mountains. The resemblance between TINS pam
and the American lava sheet became sun moro
apparent to the traveller as he marched across
1t. and ii was renewed and emphasized by the
return journey when the plain was crossed
further to the north. Neither ordinary volcanic
action nor the theory Of eruption through vast
assures in the ground are accepted by DR. Greg
DRY as accounting for the lava beds of America
and Africa or for the Deccan Traps in india
His opinion is that the molten lava found in
Vulnerable small vents and then together
upon the surface.
From the day that the great lava bed was
first sighted there a marked change in the
scenery Between Mombasa on the eastern
coast and the Kapte Plain there had been
succession OF hill and dale. where the work of
running water was evident. But leaving
the prairie and the forest which terminated II
the traveller plunged at once into gorge that
had no sinuous curves and no sloping hillsidcs
It's walls parallel and almost vertical
| Plainly it was a direct split In the rocks. This
chasm led on to the very edge Of the Great
| Rift Valley where was TO be seen on lar
| grander scale the results of a vast movement
/ by which the ancient surface was rent apart
! and that portion between the assures sank down
| TO form the bed of the valley. Perhaps there
| were men-savage men, IT is true very careless
/ IN handing down the memory 10 blitll N'HNNHN
ants Of what happened in their time-who saw
the Rift Valley formed. According to Dr. Greg
DRY. these men have left relics in the shape of
stone implements, not only In the valley ltsei1
! but outside of it.
DR. Gregory thought the scene he ap-
| preached Lake Losoguta, a small body Of water
south Of Lake Baringo the finest in Africa
| Tsually except at sunrise or sunset, the colors
Of the landscape were disappointing But he
/ came in sight Of the lake in the middle Of a
bright afternoon. His first view was from the
edge OF q high plateau. and even his porters
showed their delight. At the foot of the cliff
! lay long narrow lake which he compared TO
the Windermere The opposite shore rose in
/ series Of terraces and beyond there were
! glimpses of a fine valley and vast level up
/ land The lake itself was of an exquisite Dlue'
broken by the green Of dense growths of alga,
/ or by pink where vast nocks Of fiaminsoes float
ed or the surface The color effects on the shore
/ and on the slets were striking by the con-
trasts as by the brilliancy OF the tints; here
and there a glitterng tract Of sand, or
dazzling white deposit Of sinter around a hot
spring. interrupted the sombre brown hue Of the
acacia scrub" For a while master and men
were so charmed by the beauty Of the view that
they thought of nothing else Then it occurred
to all that they had water and very little
food They searched the heights on which they
stood IN vain for a spring. The usual rain
failed that night it did Oh the following
night also, the hot cliffs dissipating the clouds
in vapor BY noon of the next day they had
! rnadc road down 10 the lake. only TO find that
the water could not be drunk. 1t was not
merely salt. but it acted a violent emetic.
| Hour after hour they marched on looking for
a stream and finally campe1. Next day it was
| the same with the difference that the last ra-
ton of food had been eaten. Late in the after
noon they found water and the next day they
got something to eat, though the land was
stricken with famine Only the accidental pres
ence of a party of Arab traders in village
where the natives were starving saved DR..
/ Gregory and his men from fatal disaster.
There were few such episodes however, and no
real trouble with the fighting tribesmen, though
the author was the only white man and his
party was necessarily small one. He pushed
on and made a satisfactory survey OF Lake
| Raringo proving that, like other lakes of It's
class It had no outlet.
Then he turned back to make the ascent Of
Mount Kenya a glacier al peak just south of
| the Equator. This task, like the other mountain
| climbing that he did rendered dangerous
by the lack of an experienced companion. Only
one Of his men could be persuaded even to set
foot on a glacier With single exception they
had never seen ice and the one exception knew
II only as something white and wonderful. That
water could freeze had never occurred to them.
In camp high up the mountain slopes the
water turned to ice night. The men de-
c,ared that II was bewitched. DR.. Gregory
handled It to show that they were silly to be
afraid Of IT, Il put one Of the pots on the fire.
he adds land predicted it would soon turn again
into water The men sat around and anXiously
watched it: when It had melted they toyfully
told me that the demon was expelled, ana told
them they could now use the water. but as soon
&C my hack was tur ned they poured it away and
re0lled their pots from an adjoining brook
The only man who had ever seen glacier was
Fund.- a Zanzibar who was with Count Telekl
when that explorer made partial ascent OF
Kenva So far as he went. this man ascended
the mountain almost barefoot. The attempt to
make him wear boots was failure l)r. Greg
orv thought the tough soles of his feet would
have held nails for climbing. but his humorous
.,,cces,ion was very seriously declined by
Fund.- Nevertheless the man pressed on TO the
very foot of one OF the glaciers. There he kicked
off his sandals knelt down and offered a ferVent
PRAYER to Allah. after which he took few steps
on the glacier But It's white glare frightened
him. lie had done we'll for Zanzibar. Inc
boiling of the thermometers showed an altitude
NJ $50 feet DR.. Gregory went considerably
higher by the aid of crampons and ice axe. But
after two successive trials he had to turn back
at a height of : 300 something less than TWO
thousand feet from the topmost peak ne SUI
fred a little from mountain sickness, but ms
irnnression was that 1t was due 10 the food ne
was obliged to eat rather than to the rarefactl0n
OF the air. His observations coiiiIIneu ' Inc
theory that the mountain had pech pulIt up ny
aIcanic action as well as the opinion that the
Glacial field of Eastern Africa was OF consider
Ellie extent in times now long past. lis work IS
,Da ~ remarkable skill. not merely IN It's nara
iva ~ his own adventures, but III It's prlef YET
comnrehensive survey Of what had been done ny
| nthnrs hefore him. The volume Is cOPlousI9 IIus-