i6 PREPARING FOR THE START part i 



in the less-known regions of British East Africa, by four EngHsh 

 sportsmen, namely, by our chief, together with Sir Henry Tich- 

 borne, Mr. W. H. Harris, and Mr. J. Benett-Stanford, late of the 

 Royal Dragoons. Dr. A. D. Mackinnon, who had seen much 

 experience in British East Africa, and who had accompanied 

 Mr. Jackson's caravan to Uganda, was the doctor ; a better man 

 for the post could not have been found. Count Lovatelli (who 

 subsequently distinguished himself by his courageous rescue of 

 Mr. Tod in the fighting with the Somali at Kismayu) went 

 with us by an arrangement between our chief and the Italian 

 authorities ; and my services, as a naturalist, had been lent to 

 the chief of the expedition by the Trustees of the British Museum. 

 Sir Henry Tichborne was accompanied by his valet Gleave. 



As a private expedition its scale was very extensive. It 

 comprised 8 Europeans and over 300 natives, while a power- 

 ful baggage train had been arranged for. It had been hoped 

 that the Egyptian Government would have lent 70 of its 

 Soudanese troops to the expedition, but as the negotiations for 

 this fell through, the chief defence of the caravan was entrusted 

 to 150 Aden Somali. It was not thought advisable to rely 

 entirely on these very excitable people, so ten stolid, imperturb- 

 able Turks had been engaged to act as crew of the Maxim gun. 

 In case this jammed, we knew we could rely on them to stand 

 their ground, while it was being again prepared for action. We 

 were to pass near some of the so-called " sacred cities " of the 

 Somali country, where it was thought possible that a " holy 

 war " might be preached against us, and the Somali escort 

 refuse to fight. So to prevent the expedition being dependent 

 on any one set of men, an Abyssinian contingent was also 

 engaged. As these were nearly all Christians, their nominal 

 Christianity would, we hoped, ensure their constancy in case 

 of any quarrel with the Somali. They were also engaged to 

 act as porters as well as soldiers ; and further to supplement the 

 camel transport, 80 Zanzibar! had been enlisted by the British 

 East Africa Company at Mombasa. 



The goal of the expedition was Basso Narok or Lake 

 Rudolf, which had previously been visited by one expedi- 

 tion only, that of Count Teleki in 1888-89. ^^ ^^^ hoped 

 to explore the western shore of the lake and follow up the two 

 rivers that flow into its northern end. It was intended also to 



