With Flashlight and Ritic -* 



there. This eiUerprising man h;L 1 reared an imposinir 

 stock ot birds in one year, and liad achi('\-cd much 

 more in this short period than the ( )strich harm- 

 ing" Company, which. o^vinL4■ '^'^ had manaL^XMnt'iit, has 

 no profits to sliow tor all tliese \cars. with larL;c means 

 at their disposal. 



A loni^ march brought our caravan next to the; Rombo 

 plantation, the scene of the murder of Dr. Lent and 

 Dr. Kretschmer in 1894. How long will it be before 

 numbers ot other such calamities, here and ever\\vhere 

 in our colonies, bring it home to us that it is only 

 possible to establish a civilised administration, in our 

 sense of the term, over such regicjns, when we can sup- 

 port it l)v an adequate number ot troops and police, 

 maintained in every corner ot it at a correspondingly 

 enormous expense ? 



From Rombo we proceeded through dense banana 

 groves, by narrow shady paths, to Useri, where the Mangi 

 (chief) Mambua generously |)rovick?d me with beans, and 

 where we had to strike camp in the middle ot a banana 

 plantation. 



This Useri district, with Its winding, intricate, densely 

 shaded ])aths and banana-plantations, is still littk; known. 

 Its inhabitants are shy and retiring, and water is so scanty 

 here that the\- can only get it Irom the banana stalks. 



More long marches followed now. We crossed the 

 Ngare-Rongai (of which the waic^r was icy cold and most 

 excell(;nt), and ])resentl\' I got to the Xjiri swamj)s Ijy 

 way of the watering-place Marago- Kanga. 



These swamps a.rc; called Xgare-( )'.Ssiram 1)\ tlie Masai, 



86 



