432 THE GIANT ELAND [ch. xv 



nearly as freely as our East African safari, although they 

 depended much on the man who beat the drum at the 

 head of the marching column. The East African 

 porters did every kind of work to an accompaniment of 

 chanting. When, for instance, after camp was pitched, 

 a detail of men was sent out for wood — the " wood 

 safari " — the men as thy came back to camp with their 

 loads never did anything so commonplace as each 

 merely to deposit his burden at the proper spot. The 

 first comers waited in the middle of the camp until all 

 had assembled, and then marched in order to where the 

 fire was to be made, all singing vigorously and stepping 

 in time together. The leader, or chanty man, would 

 call out " Kooni " (wood), and all the others would hum 

 in unison " Kooni telli " (plenty of wood). " Kooni " 

 again came the shout of the chanty man, and the answer 

 would be "Kooni." "Kooni" from the chanty man, 

 and this time all the rest would simply utter a long- 

 drawn " Hum-m-m." " Kooni " again, and the answer 

 would be " Kooni telli," with strong emphasis on the 

 "telli." Then, if they saw me, the chanty man might 

 vary by shouting that the wood was for the Bwana 

 JNI akuba ; and so it would continue until the loads were 

 thrown down. 



Often a man would improvise a song regarding any 

 small incident which had just happened to him or a 

 thought which had occurred to him. Drifting down 

 the Nile to Nimule, Kermit and the three naturalists 

 and sixty porters were packed in sardine fashion on one 

 of the sail-boats. At nightfall one of the sailors, the 

 helmsman, a Swahili from Mombasa, began to plan how 

 he would write a letter to his people in Mombasa and 

 give it to another sailor, a friend of his, who intended 

 shortly to return thither. He crooned to himself as he 



