TREK AND CAMP. 1 89 



and raid as they pleased. The only thing which must have saved the weaker 

 tribes from total annihilation or from being merged into the stronger tribes was, 

 that directly the warlike tribes felt themselves expanding they almost invariably 

 started fighting amongst themselves, and such fights were often rather bloody affairs. 



The difference between the courage of some African tribes and the cowardice 

 of others is most marked, and one wonders how the latter have ever managed to 

 survive. You meet with two tribes living alongside of each other, and whilst 

 members of one will face a lion with spears and shields, the members of the 

 other will run away in herds at sight of a single man, even without waiting to see 

 if he is armed or is hostile or friendly. 



But to return to the native guides ; they generally refuse to accompany you 

 singly or without their weapons, though the latter are generally merely ornamental 

 curiosities, for they are thrown away at the slightest hint of danger. 



Two guides will generally accompany your party, and this number is useful, as, 

 if you wish to temporarily leave the path, one guide may be taken with you, whilst 

 the other is sent on with the caravan. Before separating, great care should be 

 taken that both guides understand the place at which they are to re-meet. All such 

 arrangements should be thrashed out very thoroughly, as names of places, distances, 

 etc., seem, from minute to minute, to have a curious way of changing. 



The best method of arriving at distances is to take one of the guides out of 

 hearing of the other, and ask him, " If we were to start from here at dawn, 

 where would the sun be when we got there ? " or, for long distances, " How 

 many days is it to such and such a place ? " Note then what part of the 

 heavens he points to with his spear, and afterwards take the other guide aside, 

 and ask him the like question. 



If they only disagree by a few hours, a mean may be taken, remembering that 

 their calculation is for a man walking without a halt, and that a caravan will take 

 longer. But if one guide says that the journey will take three days, marching east- 

 wards, and the other says three hours westwards, or if one stoutly contends that there 

 is no such place, the question will have to be gone into at greater length. 



However, I have found these interminable discussions about places waste so 

 much time and are so trying to the temper that I prefer not to start them, and on 

 most occasions I tell the headman or my cook about how many hours he is to go, and 

 that he is to stop at the first water and suitable site for camp after about that number 

 of hours, and I also tell him to block the paths on the way. I then show the guide 

 the direction in which to go, and trust to cutting in on the track of the porters, and 

 following this up when I wish to get back to camp. 



