36 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



At Tsavo it rained, and from here as far as the Athi river we 

 had day and night incessant rain. The porters got soaked to 

 the skin on the march, and in spite of mackintosh and sou'- 

 wester, I got pretty wet too. Arrived in camp, the tent had to 

 be opened on the muddy ground, and pitched in pelting rain. 

 Everything was damp and sticky and musty. It rained all 

 night. Next morning the tent was folded up, with the rain 

 pouring steadily down. We marched ankle-deep in mud in a 

 continued downpour, as if a second deluge had set in. With 

 cold feet, sopping-wet socks, and squashy boots, we trudged 

 along, bespattered with mud, half-blinded by the rain, and 

 shivering with cold, to reach a sodden camp and repeat 

 the experiences of the preceding days. Fever, diarrhoea, and 

 dysentery broke out in the caravan. At Mto-ya-Mawe I just 

 managed to reach camp, but with a raging attack of fever 

 on me. Next day we got to Aluani, and half my caravan being 

 ill, I stopped a full day to rest my men ; but the food question 

 was so serious that we had to push on again. We reached the 

 Athi river, where we hailed the cessation of the rain and the 

 reappearance of the sunshine with joyful hearts. From here 

 to the end of the journey we had beautiful weather and only 

 occasionally a rainy day. I was glad, when I handed over my 

 men at headquarters, that I could add that we had not lost a 

 single life on the journey. 



In Uganda the traveller sometimes comes across a " kibanda," 

 or grass-thatched reed-hut, which proves a very acceptable shelter 

 to him during the rainy weather, because he can light a fire 

 inside and dry his clothes. The " kibanda " has a door, but no 

 windows ; there may or may not be a reed-screen to close the 

 door. The objection to rest-houses of this description is, that 

 they are verv short-lived, and soon tumble to wreck and ruin, 

 as there is usually nobody to look after them. The vermin of 

 the neighbourhood take possession of an uninhabited hut. It 

 becomes the haunt of cockroaches, the trysting-place for rats, 

 and the home of bats. It harbours mosquitoes by the thousand, 

 and supplies food for the white-ants. There was a sort of half- 

 way house between Kampala and Port Alice, which provided all 

 these different attractions. 



I lived for three months in a ''kibanda" at Kampala. The 

 white-ants nearly destroyed the canvas bag of my camp-bed, 

 and I had to keep such goods raised above the ground on 



