CHAP. XI A CHIEF ''POSSESSED" 197 



spy out who we were. They could not conceal their surprise 

 and contempt at the smallness of our force. The natives, how- 

 ever, were friendly and interested ; they stood in crowds by the 

 path to watch us pass. They had some cattle, the first we 

 had seen since leaving Lake Naivasha nearly three months 

 before. The abundance of pumpkins, and the use of small 

 stools and poisoned arrows, indicated intercourse with the 

 Wa-kamba. The chief, however, at first refused to see me, and 

 his people informed us that he was very angry, for he had a 

 devil inside him. When I succeeded in gaining an interview, 

 he flatly refused me permission to proceed, as he declared that 

 though white men had faces that smiled like the sky, they 

 were bad inside. As no white man had previously entered his 

 country, though four had passed not far from the frontier, this 

 was a rash generalisation ; but at least the latter part of the 

 verdict was true in my case, as I was then very bad inside. 

 Luckily for us, however, the chief was no better. His " devil " 

 was lodged in a tooth, from which it was exorcised by an 

 injection of cocaine. The chief looked pleased, but went away 

 without the slightest expression of gratitude for the eviction of 

 the agent of the evil one. 



Our camp here was on the edge of an escarpment at the 

 height of 3900 feet. At the foot of the steep slope to the 

 south were some meadows with only a stream — the Mothambi 

 — between them and the steppes of the Tana. In the meadows 

 we saw a great number of men engaged in a war-dance, and 

 movements that appeared to be a rather complicated military 

 game. They were too far away for me to see the details ; and 

 as I did not know what the assembly indicated, I did not care 

 to go far from camp. 



The hyenas here were very impudent. Two of them 

 came into camp during the night and each went away with 

 a mouthful of donkey. The excitement over this, and an 

 attack of fever from which I was suffering, destroyed my night's 

 rest, and increased my longing for the peace of the uninhabited 

 plains to the south. 



When the chief came down in the morning to report that 

 he was better, I urged him to allow us to go at once. He 

 first declined, but when I said that if I had to go back the 

 devil would go back too, he changed his mind. He begged 



