58 AT MOMBASA— A SECOND START part ii 



The selection of my headman was a very important step. 

 The success of the expedition and the harmony of its elements 

 depended to a large extent on his nerve and trustworthiness, 

 and also on his interest in the work. Several men were recom- 

 mended to me on the ground of their knowledge of the country 

 I wished to explore, but, for one reason or another, I did not 

 take to any of them. One looked lazy, another sly, a third 

 promptly destroyed his chances by expressing doubts as to the 

 safety of the journey with so small a caravan. A famous old 

 headman, named Wadi Bunduki, was the best of those recom- 

 mended. His knowledge of the country around Baringo was 

 unrivalled, and would have been most valuable. He seemed a 

 most charming man, and thoroughly to deserve the estimate 

 conveyed in the designation of " dear old fellow " which every- 

 body gave him. I did not, however, regard the two features 

 of dearness and age as the leading qualifications for the post. 

 I resolved, therefore, to take Omari ben Hamadi. He had 

 been the headman of the Zanzibari contingent in the previous 

 expedition, and I had then some experience of his personal 

 qualities. His conduct had won my respect. He seemed just 

 the sort of man I wanted. He was young and ambitious, of 

 immense physical strength and inexhaustible energy. He. had 

 a splendid record, having served under Stanley on the Emin 

 Pasha Relief Expedition, and had been headman to the British 

 East Africa Company's expeditions up the Tana and Juba 

 rivers, besides having taken part in several less important 

 journeys. The fact that the last expedition on which he had 

 been engaged had failed was distinctly a point in his favour. 

 The failure was due to no fault of Omari's. Nevertheless he 

 had been so much chaffed about it by jealous rivals on the coast 

 that he might be trusted to do his very best to prevent return- 

 ing after a second breakdown. The chief objection to him was 

 that he did not know the country : beyond Machakos, in 

 Masailand, on Laikipia and at Njemps, he was as complete a 

 stranger as I was. This, however, did not seem to me alto- 

 gether a disadvantage. I thought it would make him all the 

 more anxious to see the country, because the experience there 

 would be of great value to him in the future. Moreover, his 

 ignorance would give me some power over him ; in districts 

 that had been mapped I knew more of the country ahead than 



