18 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



hind were the tents of the two hundred porters, the gun- 

 bearers, the tent boys, the askaris or native soldiers, and 

 the horse boys or saises. In front of the tents stood the 

 men in two lines; the first containing the fifteen askaris, 

 the second the porters with their head men. The askaris 

 were uniformed, each in a red fez, a blue blouse, and white 

 knickerbockers, and each carrying his rifle and belt. The 

 porters were chosen from several different tribes or races 

 to minimize the danger of combination in the event of 

 mutiny. 



Here and there in East Africa one can utilize ox wagons, 

 or pack trains of donkeys; but for a considerable expedition 

 it is still best to use a safari of native porters, of the type 

 by which the commerce and exploration of the country have 

 always been carried on. The backbone of such a safari is 

 generally composed of Swahili, the coast men, negroes who 

 have acquired the Moslem religion, together with a partially 

 Arabicized tongue and a strain of Arab blood from the 

 Arab warriors and traders who have been dominant in the 

 coast towns for so many centuries. It was these Swahili 

 trading caravans, under Arab leadership, which, in their 

 quest for ivory and slaves, trod out the routes which the 

 early white explorers followed. Without their work as a 

 preliminary the work of the white explorers could not have 

 been done; and it was the Swahili porters themselves who 

 rendered this work itself possible. To this day every hunter, 

 trader, missionary, or explorer must use either a Swahili 

 safari or one modelled on the Swahili basis. The part 

 played by the white-topped ox wagon in the history of South 

 Africa, and by the camel caravan in North Africa, has been 

 played in middle Africa by the files of strong, patient, 



