With Flashlight :iiul Rifle ^ 



involved considerable outlay ; for far and near there 

 were no means of nourishment to be had, and I was 

 therefore forced to rely solely on rice — which meant 

 o"ettIn^• Indian rice, at a great expense, a long way up 

 from the coast. This kind of thing makes expeditions 

 terribly difficult for private people. If on the contrary, 

 harvests have been good, it is not difficult to barter for 

 maize or beans, and so forth, with the natives, and thus 

 to keep the caravan-servants fed. 



The equipment and arrangement of a caravan of about 

 one hundred and twenty carriers alwavs means several days 

 of most strenuous labour. The loads must be parcelled 

 out ; to every man must be given his set task ; the Askaris 

 have to be clothed, drilled, and tested in every way. So 

 day after day goes by, till at last all is apparently ready. 

 The least negligence in the equipment of a caravan v/ill 

 sooner or later avenge itself on the road, probably far from 

 all human help. My complicated and multifarious photo- 

 graphic equipment — the chemicals, instruments, and many 

 other things — demanded a most careful disposition of the 

 most trifling details. In many cases I had to carry double 

 supplies, in case a load should be lost in the fording of a 

 river, or in any other way. 



Now at last, however, the "Safari" starts forth into 

 the desert — at first by short marches, so as to accustom 

 the carriers, but gradually increasing to thirty kilometres 

 and more in the day. Many troubles have still to be 

 gone through. A certain number of carriers always, 

 during the first few days of the expedition, lay down their 

 loads upon the caravan-road and dash into the bush with 



650 



