CH. XI] A BORANI CARAVAN 270 



Africa. ^Ve were more than liospitably received by the 

 Commissioner, Mr. Home, who had been a cow-puncher 

 in AVyoming for seven years, so that naturally we had 

 much in common. He had built the station himself, 

 and had tamed the wild tribes around by mingled firm- 

 ness and good treatment ; and he was a mighty hunter, 

 and helped us in every way. 



Here we met Kermit and Tarlton, and heard all 

 about their hunt. They had been away from us for 

 three weeks and a half, along the Guaso Nyero, and 

 had enjoyed first-rate luck. Kermit had been particu- 

 larly interested in a caravan they had met, consisting 

 of wild spear-bearing Borani— people like Somalis — 

 who were bringing down scores of camels and hvmdreds 

 of small horses to sell at Nairobi. They had come from 

 the North, near the outlying xVbyssinian lands, and the 

 caravan was commanded by an Arab of stately and 

 courteous manners. Such an extensive caravan journey 

 was rare in the old days before English rule ; but one 

 of the results of the " Pax Europaica," wherever it 

 obtains in German, French, or English Africa, is a great 

 increase of intercourse, commercial and social, among 

 the different tribes, even where widely separated. This 

 caravan had been followed by lions ; and a day or two 

 afterward Kermit and Tarlton ran into what were prob- 

 ably these very lions. There were eleven of them — a 

 male with a heavy mane, three lionesses, and seven cubs, 

 some of them about half-grown. As Kermit and Tarl- 

 ton galloped after them, the lion took the lead, the cubs 

 coming in the middle, while the three lionesses loped 

 along in the rear, guarding their young. The lion cared 

 little for his wives and offspring, and gradually drew 

 ahead of them, while the two horsemen, riding at full 

 speed, made a wide detour round the others, in order to 



