12 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



the loads are constantly slipping off. Then the donkey 

 must be caught, held, and the loads hoisted aboard. 

 It takes a man for every four donkeys, and the pace, 

 as can be imagined, is very slow. We hoped to be able 

 to train natives to pack American style; and trusted 

 that by means of the special saddles the usual objection 

 to donkey transport — ^viz.: its extreme slowness and 

 uncertainty — ^would be overcome. 



Our personal outfit we reduced to a minimum, de- 

 parting radically from the conventional and accepted 

 customs of African travel. Thus our tents were small 

 and light, made, floorcloth and aU, of one piece, after 

 a pattern invented by Cuninghame. We used chop 

 boxes as tables. Our personal effects, instruments, 

 surgical and medical material, and repair kits of all 

 sorts, we compressed to the compass of three tin boxes. 

 All the usual extra paraphernalia of African travel we 

 cut out completely. By way of provisions we took 

 merely the staple groceries: beans, rice, coffee, tea, 

 sugar, flour, oatmeal, and dehydrated fruit. Two luxu- 

 ries only did we allow: golden syrup and a light folding 

 camp-chair apiece. Nothing rests one more than the 

 latter article of furniture. Indeed, for this sort of a 

 hard trip I should almost be inclined to look on it as a 

 necessity rather than a luxury! Our light tents, beds, 

 seven boxes of provisions, trade goods, river ropes, 

 ammunition, and the three tin boxes made something 

 like twenty full loads. We decided to take thirty 



