CHAP. VIII MZUNGUPHOBIA 



143 



bought for himself as much food as he could carry, and spread 

 abroad the news that Omari was buying for a European. Only 

 once before had a " Mzungu " or " white man " visited that 

 district, and the report that it was about to be honoured by the 

 visit of a second sent the natives into hiding in the hills. The 

 Arab guide well knew what a legacy of Mzunguphobia Dr. 

 Karl Peters had left behind him for his successors. In con- 

 sequence Omari could buy very little food, and we had to pay 

 by days on half rations for Dr. Peters' misdeeds. 



My position was now rather an awkward one. Owing to 

 the unhealthiness of Njemps my time there was being worse 

 than wasted, but I had not food enough to plunge with safety 

 on to the great foodless plateau of Laikipia. I was very 

 anxious, however, to get away from Njemps, for local politics 

 there were getting mixed. The coast -traders, the starving 

 Wa-njemps, and the hill-tribes of Kamasia were all at logger- 

 heads, and agreed only in their suspicions of me. I did not 

 want to get involved in their squabbles, and so I resolved to 

 move elsewhere. 



Four courses were possible. The easiest was to return 

 along the Rift Valley back to Fort Smith ; but a known road 

 had no attractions for me. A more attractive scheme was that 

 which had been urged on me by Major Smith and Captain 

 Williams, viz. to strike west to Uganda, and, replenishing my 

 stock of trade goods there, to march on to Ruwenzori. This 

 mountain range had, however, recently been visited by Emin 

 and Stuhlmann, and it did not seem to me worth going there 

 without knowing what they had done. A third possible course 

 was to go north to Basso Narok. Sokoni, the chief guide at 

 Njemps, described to me the great fish which occur in that lake, 

 and this tempted me to try to visit it. I had been within 

 ninety miles of its southern end, and I had thought of trying to 

 make a dash across the deserts to it, with a party of my six 

 best walkers. But with such a scarcity of food, and such an 

 uncertain basis of operations as Njemps, the risks were too 

 great. The last plan was to cross Laikipia to Kenya. The 

 objections to this were twofold : there was the possibility that 

 Mr. Astor Chanler and Lieut, von Hohnel had already worked 

 out the structure of that mountain ; there was the certainty of 

 trouble with the Masai if I met them. But against these there 



