THE CARAVAN, HEADMAN, ETC. 179 



holding about one and a half pound) of whatever can be 

 bought from the natives flour, beans, &c. On the coast his 

 posho is 8 pice per diem. In a trip of six months' duration or 

 more, all the men in the caravan, from headman to porter, 

 will demand, and are entitled to, three months' pay in advance. 

 Three months' wages in advance is the most ever paid, how- 

 ever long the trip may be. For trips of less than six months, 

 a proportionate advance is made. The principle is a bad 

 one from a European point of view, but it is the custom, and 

 in this respect, as in many others in East Africa, custom is 

 law. 



We now come to the ' safari ' (caravan) as a whole. After 

 the headman has been engaged and an approximate list of 

 loads made out, including everything barter goods of beads, 

 cloth, and wire, private kit, tents, stores, ammunition both 

 private and for defensive purposes, cooking gear, &c., the 

 headman should be told how many porters and askaris will be 

 required, and it is well to let him engage as many of them as 

 he can himself in order that he may know something of their 

 antecedents. As they are brought up by the headman to be 

 engaged, they should be entered in the list in companies of ten 

 men, each company under an askari. They then receive their 

 advance pay, and can be either told off to do any work there 

 may be for them to do, or they can have their posho given them 

 at once and may be left to their own devices. As long as they 

 are in Mombasa, or any coast town, they should be mustered 

 every morning for any work there may be, and again in the 

 evening to receive their posho. It is always advisable to 

 engage two or three extra porters over and above the esti- 

 mated number of loads, as even in the best organised 

 caravans, and when all the porters are present at the last 

 moment, something is sure to turn up that has been over- 

 looked, such as a bundle of rope, a basket of potatoes and 

 onions, or a crate of fowls. The two latter comestibles, 

 although they have never been given a thought since the cook 

 received the order to get them, are of much importance, and 



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