I70 THE SNOWFIELDS AND GLACIERS OF KENYA part ii 



storm. The missing porter was a man named Wadi Sadi, 

 whom I had especially chosen to join the party ; for he was a 

 sailor, and thus might have been expected to be a good climber ; 

 moreover he was the lightest man in the caravan. 



I was therefore disappointed to hear that he was lost, for 

 it showed he was useless for the work for which he had been 

 chosen. I rushed back at once ; but as the snow had hidden 

 our trail, I missed it, and had to search for an hour before I 

 found him. He was lying on his load about 300 feet below 

 the level of the camp ; he was covered with snow and nearly 

 frozen to death. A little brandy revived him, but he was too 

 weak to stand. As it was still snowing it would have been 

 useless to have returned for help, for the porters were so cowed 

 that they would have refused to move. I recollected that 

 Wadi weighed less than the burdens some of my men had to 

 bear all day long, so I resolved to carry him. He was able to 

 cling to my back, and slowly, and with many halts, I struggled 

 with him up the slope. If the porter had left his load when 

 he first became too weak to carry it, he could no doubt have 

 walked on with the others. I thought his action in staying 

 out in the snow with it simply Quixotic, and, annoyed at the 

 trouble it had given me, I rather brutally told him next morn- 

 ing that he was a fool. It is a point of honour among Zanzibari 

 never to leave their loads, and I shall not forget the man's 

 reproachful look as he asked, " How could I leave my load 

 without my master's orders to do so ? " 



Another trait in the Zanzibari character was shown at 

 the same camp. In the morning the men came to tell me 

 that the water they had left in their cooking- pots was all 

 bewitched. They said it was white, and would not shake ; the 

 adventurous Fundi had even hit it with a stick, which would 

 not go in. They begged me to look at it, and I told them to 

 bring it to me. They declined, however, to touch it, and implored 

 me to go to it. The water of course had frozen solid. I 

 handled the ice and told the men they were silly to be afraid 

 of it, for this change always came over water on the tops of 

 high mountains. I put one of the pots on the fire, and pre- 

 dicted it would soon turn again into water. The men sat 

 round and anxiously watched it ; when it had melted they 

 joyfully told me that the demon was expelled, and I told them 



