AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



apparently purposeless and futile, the calm cattle 

 seem so aloof and superior to it all, so absolutely 

 unaffected by it. They are going slowly, to be sure, 

 their gait may be maddeningly deliberate, but evi- 

 dently they do not intend to be hurried. Why not 

 let them take their own speed? 



But all this hullabaloo means something, after all. 

 It does its business, and the top of the boulder- 

 strewn hill is gained. Without it the whole concern 

 would have stopped; and then the wagon would have 

 had to be unloaded before a fresh start could have 

 been made. Results with cattle are not shown by 

 facial expression nor by increased speed, but simply 

 by continuance. They will plod up steep hills or 

 along the level at the same placid gait. Only in 

 the former case they require especial treatment. 



In case the wagon gets stuck on a hill, as will 

 occasionally happen, so that all the oxen are dis- 

 couraged at once, we would see one of the Kikuyus 

 leading the team back and forth, back and forth, 

 on the side hill just ahead of the wagon. This is 

 to confuse their minds, cause them to forget their 

 failure, and thus to make another attempt. 



At one stretch we had three days of real moun- 

 tains. N'gombe* Brown shrieked like a steam cal- 

 liope all the way through. He lasted the distance, 



* N^gombf— oxen. 



274 



