WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



we had some long stretches of waterless plain ahead 

 of us. 



It was a great sight to see our safari set out. In 

 addition to the carriers, the horses, the dogs, and the 

 wagons, there were two cooks, a personal boy for each 

 white man, five camera boys, and my Masai spearman. 

 Each carrier's load is nominally sixty pounds. This 

 figure is rarely exceeded, and when the package is 

 unusually bulky or awkward due allowance is made 

 for the fact. On a really long journey, when the safari 

 marches every day for months, sixty pounds is, oi 

 course, too much, but for an expedition such as ours 

 it is quite a reasonable weight. As a rule the load 

 is carried on the porter's head, but occasionally it is 

 hung on the shoulders by a strap passing round the 

 bearer's forehead. 



The immense variety of loads adds greatly to the 

 picturesque appearance of a caravan. One man will 

 have a " chop box," a case containing tinned meats 

 and other " white man's food " ; the next may have 

 some folding chairs and tables, awkward, ungainly ; 

 the man behind him may perspire under a portion of 

 the tent canvas. As a rule a man keeps the same load 

 all through the trip, though naturally, as the bags of 

 food stuffs and boxes of tinned meats become emptied, 

 there is a certain amount of redistribution. 



The safari always treks in single file, often to the 

 accompaniment of a monotonous sort of native chant. 



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