With Flashlight and Rifle -* 



the neighbourhood of Cape Town. To the former wealth of 

 elephants in East Africa the accounts of the blacks testify. 

 It is but a short while since these blacks travelled in 

 caravans, consisting of hundreds of men, laden with quan- 

 tities of exchange goods to barter for. ivory. In German 

 East Africa these caravans started from Pangani, the 

 emporium of the slave traffic, to travel to Masailand by 

 way of Arusha Chini and Arusha Ju. For a year or more 

 they journeyed through the country between the coast and 

 Lake Victoria, exchanging their wares for ivory, which 

 they derived chiefly from the VVandorobo, an offshoot of 

 the Masai. Later, however, having their attention drawn 

 to the value of ivory, the Masai-El Moran themselves 

 went in for elephant-hunting, and sold the coveted article 

 to coast caravans. The coast-people passed their nights 

 in camps surrounded by thorn-hedges, by which they 

 protected themselves against the attacks of the Masai 

 warriors, who often sought to plunder them. Great 

 bartering and haggling went on by day. Patience was 

 needed for this kind of trading, for it often took days 

 and even weeks to buy a few tusks. At last the 

 caravan would be laden with ivory, and would return to 

 the coast to deliver up hundreds of tusks. Many pre- 

 cautions had to be taken. Oscar Baumann informs us 

 that no caravan dared take a tusk over a beanfield, for 

 that would be unlucky. Many of those who went with 

 the caravan succumbed to the fatigues of the journey, 

 or lost their lives in fighting against the Masai. Every 

 man was armed with a muzzle-loader. These caravans 

 were organised by Arabs or Indians on the coast, who 



