The crater on Longernot had already
caught the first rays of the sun when we reached the bottom of
the hill and started across the flat land of the valley.
There was no road leading to where we were going, nor track, nor
path, of any kind. No safari had ever gone there before. From the
height of Kijabe station we had seen what looked to be a long,
low mound in the distant veldt. The southern end of that long,
low mound was our destination.
The horsemen, as usual, spread out in a widely extended line and
passed in front of the wagons and porters. As we penetrated
farther into the valley the nature of the country altered. Open
parks and stretches of scrub succeeded one another, with here and
there a dry donga cutting deep into the ground. As we approached
the mound it rapidly grew in height and the black rocks commenced
to appear beneath the covering of verdure.
Among the settlers of the district this mound is called the Black
Reef. It is the general opinion that the Black Reef is formed of
lava that long ago flowed down into the plain from the crater of
Longernot. The sides, which rise almost perpendicularly to a
height of some two hundred feet, are composed of jagged blocks of
stone, honeycombed with deep caves and caverns.
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