CHAPTER II 



WITH THE ADVANCE GUARD TO THE TANA 



" We eat our proper rations 

 In spite of inundations, 

 Malarial exhalations, 

 And casual starvations." 



Kipling. 



WiTU is the farthest outpost of civilisation in the Tana valley, 

 and here we expected to begin regular " safari " or caravan life, 

 and to say farewell to Europeans for the last time until we 

 reached the Somali coast opposite Aden. My pleasure at 

 getting away from the coast lands and starting for the " barra " 

 was, however, lessened by my regret at parting from Bird 

 Thompson.^ He took a keener interest in the natives, he 

 understood their point of view better, he knew more about their 

 habits and beliefs, and was more popular amongst them, than 

 any other man I met in Africa. To his advice I owe more than 

 can easily be expressed. With his usual readiness to help us, 

 he came over to camp to superintend our start. The Somali 

 stood in awe of him, and so the camels were promptly loaded 

 and we got away without a word of complaint. 



We marched for four hours and then rested beside a small 

 brackish lake, which must be the source of the Magogoni, the 

 river which joins the Ozi at Kau. The acacias here were often 

 pink, owing to the growth upon them of a species of Lorantkus, 

 a parasitic plant allied to the mistletoe. 



At three in the afternoon we resumed our march, and left 

 the woods of Hyphaene palms and entered the " barra " or 

 open grassy plains beside the Tana. We crossed a dry channel 



^ He died off Teneriffe during the voyage home in February 1895. 



