i8o BIG GAME SHOOTING 



help considerably to save the tinned provisions and to recon- 

 cile a man to the miseries of the first few days in the wilderness, 

 after the fleshpots of Mombasa. The first day of getting 

 under way will perhaps be found the most trying of any to the 

 patience and temper, unless some little trouble is taken to 

 minimise the confusion generally attending the start of a 

 caravan for ' up-country.' To effect this, the whole of the men 

 should have at least two days' notice beforehand of their 

 master's decision to start on a certain day, and the night 

 before the start the whole caravan should be told, when they 

 come for their posho, to muster and fall in in the morning at 

 least a couple of hours before they are actually wanted. The 

 whole of the loads should then be laid out in lots of ten. The 

 porters having fallen in to their respective companies with 

 their askari, and having answered to the roll-call, the rifles and 

 cartridge-belts should be distributed amongst them. Their posho 

 in rice should then be issued to them, and may vary in quantity 

 according to the destination of the safari ; but should it be 

 anywhere along the Teita route, ten days' posho is usually given, 

 which will last them well over the Maungu wilderness, till 

 Teita is reached, where food of various kinds is procurable. 

 Ten days' food is as much as a porter can be expected to 

 carry on leaving the coast, when he is soft and out of training, 

 though up country, in places like the Masai district, where no 

 vegetable food is procurable, he will not only carry twelve to 

 fifteen days' food, but also an extra heavy load into the 

 bargain. Each company should then be told off to a lot of ten 

 loads, and every man should be ordered to put some private 

 mark of his own on his allotted load so as to recognise it 

 again. This is important, as it not only prevents confusion, 

 but a good deal of quarrelling amongst the men when moving 

 camp each morning, sometimes in the dark, should there be 

 a long waterless march ahead. 



In the matter of food for the men when up country, this 

 should, when feasible, be bought by the headman and collected 

 in bulk, as it is much cheaper to buy it so ; but when on the 



