The guides said there were only two ways out--one by the Turkwel gorge and the other by the route up which we came.

The former might lead us far from any sources of food supplies, which by that time were becoming imperatively necessary, and the latter was undesirable unless as a last resort.

After some deliberation we resolved to climb over the eastern rim and strike for the Nzoia River.

No one had ever been known to take this course, but we felt that we could cut our way out and make trails sufficient to follow.
The guides refused to go, because by doing so they would enter a district where they might encounter tribes that were hostile to their own.

On one side of this mountain there was a bitter tribal war even then under way.