362 IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA chap. 



for the men. Luckily, we were not in great need 

 of it, as we got nothing. The natives here were 

 indined to be hostile, so much so that I feared an 

 attack ; I therefore thought it advisable to keep the 

 chief in camp all night, though he was rather 

 loath to remain. There was very great excitement 

 among the tribe, who gathered in great numbers all 

 round our camp as night came on, and yelled and 

 howled in a most threatening manner. 



I had in my safari a man who had been born and 

 bred in this part of the country, and, as I could hear 

 from my tent the noisy yellings of another war 

 party at a little distance, evidently holding a 

 meeting of some sort, I sent him to find out what it 

 was all about. After a couple of hours he returned, 

 and told me there had been a big shaiiri of warriors 

 and elders, who had been called together to decide 

 whether they should allow us to pass through their 

 country in peace or fall upon us during the night, 

 wipe out the safari, and loot all our goods. The 

 younger and more fiery warriors were for declaring 

 war ; the elders, however, refused to agree to this 

 proposal, as they said that the solitary white man 

 would never come through their country with a 

 white lady unless he possessed some very powerful 

 medicine with which he would be able to annihilate 

 the warriors if attacked. The Witch Doctor said 

 that they had never seen a white lady before, 

 and it might bring great misfortune if any harm 



