312 THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 



hand. We said that if he would send men with us to 

 Fort Hall we would there buy him a present in return: 

 and requested him to name it. 



He thought a long while, then told us to send him 

 whatever we pleased. We urged him to choose. For 

 the first time he made a speech. Said he, in sub- 

 stance : 



''I have been drinking much tembo in your honour. 

 I cannot see you plainly, because you go like this," and 

 he waved his hand slowly to and fro in front of his face. 

 ^'I cannot now think of anything that I want, so you 

 will have to send me whatever you please," and again 

 he smiled amiably. 



We left him there, seated under the tree, the rain 

 streaming from his face. 



The march back to camp from this point was a hard 

 one. Our men were heavily loaded, and the hills so 

 slippery that we could hardly stand. Indeed at one 

 place I slid forty feet as though on ice, without the 

 least ability to check myself. After a little over eight 

 hours, however, we arrived at the base camp, and 

 were able to dry off. At sundown we gave backshish 

 to our faithful shenzis. In the moonlight they danced 

 and sang for an hour, then filed past us and said good- 

 bye. A lot of Kikuyu savages were in, sent by Kurioki 

 to help us carry our goods out to railhead. We took 

 fifteen of them, men and women, and they served us 

 very well. One of them wanted Cuninghame to take 



