214 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



September 22. — ^Loafed all morning. Missambi has 

 recovered from his scolding, and has brought in eggs as 

 a peace offering. My back and legs somewhat better. 

 At noon, after lunch, while I was doctoring my various 

 patients, the relay came back, with the loads from 

 Myeru's; and almost immediately, to my great surprise, 

 Cuninghame 's safari topped the hill. I was indeed glad 

 to see him, for I had not expected him for ten days yet. 



It will be remembered that my back hit me about 

 three o'clock in the afternoon: by ten next morning 

 Cuninghame, ^z;e days^ distant, was told all the details! 

 I had often heard tales of how rapidly and mysteri- 

 ously news travels in Africa; but I had never before 

 had an opportunity of experiencing the phenomenon. 

 Many explanations are offered, some of them pretty 

 fanciful, ranging from telepathic dreams to drum 

 signals. I have no explanation myself; but only a 

 tentative suggestion. Often I have noticed how the 

 native voice carries. Men working on hills on either 

 side of a wide, deep caiion will talk away to each other 

 all morning. In order even to attract attention I 

 would have to shout very vigorously. Whenever a 

 white man has a command to issue to a man at the 

 other end of camp he invariably tells one of his boys to 

 say it; otherwise he would have considerably to exert his 

 voice. The native speaks loudly and clearly, but with- 

 out yelling. I have heard it said that this is because 

 the African has a more open larynx than the white man. 



