20 PREPARING FOR THE START part i 



If the camels were landed by the date fixed in the contract, 

 there was no reason why New Year's Day should not find us 

 all in camp at Ngatana, ready to begin the march up the Tana 

 valley by the end of the first week in January. 



Unfortunately no reliable calculation had been made of the 

 relation between weight of stores and means of transport at 

 each point. All our food and loads were stacked at two 

 different places, while our porters were foodless and idle at a 

 third. 



It was necessary that food should be taken to our Southern 

 division, because the men had only sufficient to last till they 

 reached the Tana at a station called Borabini, two days' march 

 from the coast. 



Tichborne and I accordingly started to Kau with some 

 porters and donkeys laden with rice. On arriving there, 

 however, we found that the dhow had not come from Lamu, 

 and the canoes had not been collected to carry our goods up 

 the Tana. With this not very pleasant news Tichborne 

 returned to Witu, while I stayed at Kau to get canoes and 

 take the food on to Harris. 



As I could not start next day, I went down the estuary 

 to the port of Kipini at the mouth of the river, to see if the 

 dhow was there. There was no news of it, but the excursion 

 was repaid by my shooting two hippopotami, seeing my first 

 crocodiles, examining some coral reefs, and visiting some ex- 

 tensive cotton plantations and the tomb of the giant Fumo 

 Liongwe, one of the best known characters in Suahili folklore. 



The Somali left at Kau had a less pleasant day, and on 

 my return demanded permission to go back at once to Witu, 

 as the mosquitoes rendered their lives unbearable. These 

 insects were certainly troublesome, though by sitting in the 

 smoke of a fire one could keep them off; but the Somali said 

 this remedy was as bad as the disease. 



Sufficient canoes came to Kau next morning, and I pre- 

 pared at once to start for the Tana. But just as they were 

 being loaded, a letter arrived giving me a startling change of 

 orders. The letter said that other arrangements had been 

 made for the transport of food to Harris's party, and that I 

 was to return at once to Witu. There I was to meet an 

 advance guard that was being hastened up from a camp that 



