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of water when very thirsty; another, a knife from a man 

 who was misbehaving himself. On careful inquiry, and 

 delivering judgment in the spirit of Solomon, we decided 

 that both soldiers had been justified by the provocation 

 received; but as we were dealing with the misdeeds of 

 mere big children, we gave the gourd back to its owner 

 with a reprimand for having refused the water, and per- 

 mitted the owner of the knife, whose offence had been 

 more serious, to ransom his property by bringing in a 

 chicken to the soldier who had it. 



The natives lived in the usual pointed beehive huts in 

 unfenced villages, with shambas lying about them; and 

 they kept goats, chickens, and a few cattle. Our perma- 

 nent camp was near such a village. It was interesting 

 to pass through it at sunrise or sunset, when starting on or 

 returning from a hunt. The hard, bare earth was swept 

 clean. The doors in the low mud walls of the huts were 

 but a couple of feet high and had to be entered on all-fours; 

 black pickaninnies scuttled into them in wild alarm as we 

 passed. Skinny, haggard old men and women, almost 

 naked, sat by the fires smoking long pipes; the younger 

 men and women laughed and jested as they moved among 

 the houses. One day, in the course of a long and fruitless 

 hunt, we stopped to rest near such a village, at about two 

 in the afternoon, having been walking hard since dawn. 

 We I and my gun-bearer, a black askari, a couple of 

 porters, and a native guide sat down under a big tree a 

 hundred yards from the village. Soon the chief and several 

 of his people came out to see us. The chief proudly wore 

 a dirty jersey and pair of drawers; a follower carried his 

 spear and the little wooden stool of dignity on which he 

 sat. There were a couple of warriors with him, one a man 

 in a bark apron with an old breech-loading rifle, the other 

 a stark-naked savage not a rag on him with a bow and 

 arrows; a very powerfully built man with a ferocious and 

 sinister face. Two women bore on their heads, as gifts 

 for us, one a large earthenware jar of water, the other a 



