CHAPTER XX 



October 2. — Expected the usual long wait for the 

 guides, but to our vast astonishment they were on 

 hand before dawn, squatted at little fires and ready for 

 action. Walioba is keen business. Sent back twenty 

 men to bring on Dolo, donkeys, and loads from Mis- 

 sambi's. One shenzi porter deserted in the night. 

 Walioba supplied us one of his personal entourage, 

 who took the deserter's load as far as the next village, 

 where we hired another at two cents per diem. 



Marched seven hours through a broken country with 



many rocky outcrops and peaks. Passed cotton fields 



white with cotton and yellow and pink with blossom. 



Over across the valley we heard a distant native 



safari passing to the music of a flute. It was very 



mellow and pleasing. Stopped at a native smithy. 



The blacksmith was very hirsute on arms and body, 



most unusual. The bellows were two goatskins joined 



at the necks and pressed alternately to give a steady 



stream. He had pincers and a small hammer, and for 



anvils he used hard rocks of different sizes. At the 



time he was making a hoe, and fashioned the hot iron 



very skilfully. All the villages are built right among 



the rocks, the houses perched in the oddest places, with 



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