A. Arkell-Hardwick

“ Ismail, busily searching for his absent porters, heard the shots, and, momentarily desisting from his search, rushed out of camp to see what was the matter. Fifty yards away he saw Barri with uplifted rifle covering the two Somalis, who were cowering behind the bush. If ever I saw murder written on a man’s face, I saw it then on Ismail’s, and remembering what he was capable of, I went after him, followed by El Hakim and George. Ismail was carrying a 12-bore shot-gun loaded with ball cartridges, and as he ran at Barri he unslung the weapon from his shoulder. ”

“ The cry of the zebra is very like a long-drawn growling whistle, and in the distance, when too far off to hear the whistle, the growl very much resembles that of a lion. There were large herds of oryx in sight, and a few rhinoceros and water-buck.
The sun sank gradually lower in the western heavens, and we were still apparently no nearer the range of hills we were making for, so deceptive are the apparent distances in the clear atmosphere. But just as dusk had fallen, our eyes were gladdened by the sight of a large clump of Doum palms growing in the centre of an open green space a mile away. ”

“ Late in the afternoon, on October 27th, we crossed a large ravine, and on climbing the opposite slope we emerged into open green country. As far as the eye could see the grass-grown surface rolled away in undulating ridges, without a tree or a bush to relieve the eye. It reminded me very much of portions of the Downs in Sussex, from which the trees had been removed. A herd of zebra disported themselves on the plain, and after a careful stalk I secured one of them for the men, who were already growing short of food. ”

“ At eleven o’clock we resumed the march. If the jungle in M’bu was bad, this side of the ravine was ten times worse, being one impenetrable wall of vegetation. The heat at the bottom was terrific, and we all felt its effects severely. Palms grew on every side, intermingled with giant forest trees, which were in their turn covered with exotic creepers, orchids, and climbing plants, thickly interlaced with rattans, which formed a solid wall extending right up to the summit of the ridge. ”

“ Till then the village is perfectly quiet, but soon a low murmuring is heard some considerable distance away, which gradually swells as the flocks draw nearer, till it becomes at last a perfect babel of sound with the baaings and bleatings of sheep, and the beat of their countless little hoofs. They presently arrive in flocks numbering two or three thousand each, kicking and leaping, and raising a vast cloud of dust. The women of the village, who have been waiting, then come out with their milk-vessels, each with a kid or a lamb in her arms, which she holds on high at the edge of the flock. ”

“ We spent all the afternoon, waist-deep in the river, lashing logs together with strips of raw hide cut from the congoni skins. When the raft was finished, just before sundown, it looked very clumsy and unserviceable, and we had very grave doubts of its utility, as the volume of water in the river was very great, and the pressure on such an unwieldy structure was bound to be enormous—much more than any rope of ours would stand. However, that was a question that the morrow would decide; so we moored the raft to an island a few yards from the bank, and went back to camp for dinner. ”

“ El Hakim sat down—his favourite position for a shot—and dropped it dead with a bullet through the neck. At the sound of the report a terrific splash from the pool announced the alarm of the other members of the school, and with one accord they dived to the bottom, whence they reappeared at intervals to breathe, accompanied by much blowing and snorting. With shouts of joy our men instantly pounced upon the fallen hippopotamus, its meat being greatly esteemed by them as food. We also were badly in need of fat, which the dead animal supplied in great abundance. ”

“ The chase of the rhinoceros was at once abandoned, and we raced up the slope, expecting we knew not what. Nothing! absolutely nothing! met our eager gaze; the country stretched at our feet was the usual gravelly, stony abomination studded with the thorn trees we were so accustomed to; the course of the river showing in the distance as a darker green line in the brown landscape. Strain our gaze as we might, nothing in the way of a safari met our eyes. It was inexplicable. We could have sworn we heard a shot, and so also could the men ”

“ It was no easy task to keep off the armed bands of natives simply by moral force, without firing a shot, whilst we unloaded the refractory donkeys, and half pushed half dragged them unwillingly across a rocky little stream, and loaded again on the other side. In the meantime, in consequence of the delay, the main safari would have moved on and left George and myself alone with the six donkeys and as many men, and with something over three or four hundred aggressive Wa’M’bu within two hundred yards trying to make up their minds to attack us. ”

“ George had not yet risen, but, hearing our arrival, wrapped himself in a blanket and came out of his tent. I was very disagreeably surprised at his appearance. He was quite yellow and very thin and haggard, the effect of a severe attack of fever, which, coupled with anxiety on our account and differences with the Wa’Mathara in camp, had given him a very bad time indeed. He looked more like a ghost than a living being, but “all’s well that ends well,” and our arrival safe and sound contributed in no small degree to his speedy recovery. ”

“ Rhinoceros became once more unpleasantly numerous, and during that morning’s march we dodged several who at one time bade fair to disperse our little company. I suppose that they have their uses, though they are inconvenient at times. I know of nothing better for livening up the monotony of an otherwise uninteresting march, than a crusty old rhino who has just been roused from a refreshing nap. A lion does not create half so much excitement. El Hakim and George had to bestir themselves on one occasion during the morning, in order to prevent accident. ”

“ We met several rhinoceros, but such was our hurry we did not stop to speak. Suddenly a group of the thrice-blessed Doum palms appeared at the bottom of a valley. We raced down the slope, and there at the bottom lay a pool of beautiful, cool, clear, sparkling water. Ye gods! what pen can hope to adequately describe the supreme delight of a long, long draught of cool, pure water, after hours of such a sun as we had been exposed to on the “cinder-heap?” We lay down on our stomachs, and, plunging our faces beneath the surface, drank our fill of the life-preserving fluid. ”

“ But once you have, by a judicious display of firmness, gained their respect, they, with of course some exceptions, prove to be a hardy, cheerful, and intelligent people, capable of enduring great hardships without a too ostentatious display of ill-feeling, and will even go so far as to make bad puns in the vernacular upon their empty stomachs, the latter an occurrence not at all infrequent in safari work away from the main roads.
The Wa’kamba, on the whole, are a very cheerful tribe, and though of small physique, possess wonderful powers of endurance, the women equally with the men. ”

“ Next on the list of our Swahili porters was Sadi ben Heri, who had been up to North Kenia before with the late Dr. Kolb, who was killed by a rhinoceros a couple of marches north of M’thara, Sadi was a short, stoutly built, pugnacious little man, with a great deal to say upon most things, especially those which did not concern him. He was a good worker, but never seemed happy unless he was grumbling; and as he had a certain amount of influence among the men, they would grumble with him, to their great mutual satisfaction but ultimate disadvantage. ”

“ After we had washed and dressed, the tent-bearers, who were already waiting, pulled up the pegs, and in a trice the tents were lying flat on the ground, leaving the blankets and kit exposed, waiting to be packed up ready for the march by Ramathani’s deft fingers. Donkeys trotted skittishly round, colliding with everything and everybody, waywardly declining to be saddled and loaded by the perspiring Jumbi and his assistant, and skilfully evading all attempts at capture. ”

“ We were bitterly disappointed at this unexpected turn of affairs, but, after a short consultation, determined to proceed on the morrow still further down-stream, in the hope of reaching the tantalizing swamp. In our eagerness to reach the sycamore tree we had outstripped our half-mutinous men, and they were slowly coming into camp in twos and threes long after our arrival. Two of them had deserted during the march, an M’kamba and the ruffian Sulieman, who happened to be carrying a small black portmanteau which contained all George’s and my kit. ”

“ We rose early, bathed in the warm spring, ate our breakfast, and then went shooting, or, if disinclined for that, we sat in a folding-chair in the shade of the trees and read, or mended our clothes, ever and anon raising our eyes to watch the herds of game walking steadily past our camp on their way down to the river to drink. ”

“ It appeared that some three months before, the Wa’Igani, who are the neighbours of the Wa’Imbe on the north, arose in their might and smote the Wa’Imbe sorely, spoiling them of many sheep. The Wa’Imbe were not strong enough or not courageous enough to make reprisals, and hailed our arrival with great joy as possible avengers. They calmly proposed that we should accompany them, attack the Wa’Igani, and recover their lost property, and incidentally anything else we could lay our hands on that was worth annexing. ”

“ As we noiselessly formed up on the path, a sort of half sense of impending disaster seemed to have fallen on the men. We did our best to dissipate it, and apparently succeeded. The Masai guide and N’Dominuki’s nephew led the way; next came four of the Somalis as advance-guard; then Jamah Mahomet, who was wearing a waterproof coat over his khaki costume; finally George, El Hakim, and myself. A few yards farther on we found a spear in the path, probably dropped by one of the Wa’Embe in their flight, when fired at by the sentries. ”

“ Our men became very nervous, and fidgeted constantly with their guns, looking with strained gaze into the bush without the camp. El Hakim was, as usual, quite undisturbed, and George and I succeeded in keeping up an [Pg 68] appearance of impassive calm, and condescended even to make jokes about the noise, an attitude which went a long way towards reassuring our men, who watched us constantly. Any sign of nervousness or anxiety on our part would have been fatal, as the men would have instantly scattered and run for the border, with a result easily foreseen. ”

“ At the end of an hour’s hard going, we could see by the freshness of the footprints that we were once more getting closer to them. It therefore behoved us to proceed with great caution, as an old bull elephant who has been wounded is apt to make himself unpleasant if it so happens that in the ardour of pursuit the hunter gets at all careless, and it is most disconcerting, on rounding a bush, to find the elephant’s head when one expected to see his tail. ”

“ To resume, George and I had lain down, perhaps, half an hour, and were quite comfortable and half asleep, when a terrific altercation caused us to jump up and rush outside. We were just in time to assist El Hakim in forcibly disarming our men. Some of them were placing cartridges in the breeches of their rifles; a few yards away a vast crowd of natives were frantically brandishing their spears and clubs and yelling like demons. If a shot had been fired, we should have been in rather a tight place, for, as I have said, the camp was quite open, and practically defenceless. ”

“ As the men were very tired, El Hakim decided to camp, in spite of Koranja’s energetic protests that the Shelangow was “karibu kabissa” (very near) . The country was very wet with the constant drizzle and mist, which made the steep clayey paths exceedingly slippery, while between the shambas the way led through thickets of brambles and stinging nettles, which caused the porters endless discomfort. On halting, we built a boma of shrubs; not that we thought it would be of any use in case of an attack, but to give the men confidence. ”

“ Among the various reasons which prompted me to commit the crime of adding a contribution to the World’s literature is the fact that little or nothing is known concerning certain peculiar tribes; to wit, the Rendili and Burkeneji. They are a nomadic people whose origin is as yet wrapped in mystery. In addition to this, an account of the trials and difficulties to be encountered in the endeavour to obtain that rapidly vanishing commodity, ivory, will perhaps please those into whose hands this work may fall who delight in “moving accidents by flood and field.” ”

“ On the way I shot a guinea-fowl, called by the Swahilis “kanga,” and after an hour and a half of quick walking I came up with George.
He had passed a miserable night, without food, blankets, or fire, and, to make matters worse, it had drizzled all night, while he sat on a stone and kept watch and ward over the cattle. The men who had accompanied him were so tired that they had refused to build a boma to keep the cattle in. He seemed very glad to see me. We at once got the tent put up, a fire made, and the boma built, and soon made things much more comfortable. ”