THE ZANZIBAR! 



than 50 lbs. But as a matter of fact the weight is more often 

 raised than reduced. The British East Africa Company allow 

 loads of 65 lbs., and, at the outset of an expedition, this is the 

 utmost that a man should be expected to carry. Later on, 

 when the men have become used to their work, the amount can 

 be increased. We often had loads made up of 50 kibaba of 

 food which would weigh in all 75 lbs. The packing adds 

 another 5 lbs., and the porter's ten days' rations i 5 lbs. more. 

 A rifle and 20 rounds of ammunition would raise the total to 

 about 105 lbs. In addition to this the man has to take his 

 turn at carrying a heavy copper " sufuria " or cooking-pot, and 

 always has a roll containing his shelter tent and the cloth that 

 serves as a blanket, and a few other trifles of his own. Porters 

 with such loads as these are therefore really carrying i i o lbs. 

 at least, instead of the regulation 60 lbs. ; and the men seemed 

 to regard this as quite moderate treatment. Teleki ^ on one 

 occasion gave his men loads ranging from i 10 lbs. to 148 lbs. 



It appears almost as if, while you keep to their load, the 

 porters will allow you to impose upon them ad infinitiiin, or at 

 any rate as long as their strength will hold out ; but order them 

 to fetch you some firewood from a bush a hundred yards dis- 

 tant, to carry a load across camp, or to do anything that is an 

 infringement of the established dasturi or custom, and it is quite 

 another matter. If you respect dasturi and ask a man to per- 

 form the service, he will be flattered and do it at once ; but the 

 smallest demand upon him outside his recognised duty will put 

 him in a bad temper for the rest of the day. At the beginning 

 of an expedition, when there are all sorts of odd jobs to be done, 

 the men are slack, and the leader perhaps not used to caravan 

 ways, dasturi is continually invoked. If the appeal is not 

 respected, the chances are the men will desert. Their natural 

 view is, that if a leader will not respect their privileges near 

 the coast when protection is at hand, what will he not do up 

 country when his men are entirely at his mercy ? The porters, 

 as a rule, implicitly obey the laws of safari custom, and expect 

 their leader to do so too. 



Trivial infringements of dasturi are therefore bitterly 

 resented, though the men appear generally ready to tolerate 

 them, if really necessary. On Laikipia I had to withdraw 



1 Hohnel, Zum Rudolf-See, p. 698. 



