TREK AND CAMP. 193 



directly they have received their advance, or during the first few days of the trek, 

 I have very rarely heard an authentic case of any one of them being punished for so 

 doing. Provoking as the case is, I really cannot blame them, for I think that most 

 people would do the same under similar circumstances. 



As to discipline, there is seldom any difficulty with the porters, for they are 

 almost invariably cheerful and obedient. If you have the ordinary caravan leader's 

 powers of punishments these will generally suffice ; in fact, they will hardly ever be 

 required to be brought into force. So long as the men know that you have power to 

 punish them and are quite prepared to do so, you will seldom or never have cause to 

 make use of any punishment. However, like all African natives, if they think that 

 you are without authority or inclined to be lenient, they are almost certain to give 

 trouble, and will, anyhow, try to impose on you. It is, therefore, as well to correct 

 any mistaken ideas on this subject from the start, and an infinity of trouble in the 

 future will be saved. I have always found it advisable, with a new set of porters who 

 do not know me, to watch them most carefully for the first few days, and deal with 

 the slightest offence most harshly. Having done this, I can afford to treat all trivial 

 offences in the future with the utmost leniency, and serious offences then practically 

 never occur. 



I have generally found with natives that it never pays to show oneself too 

 solicitous about their welfare, or to show that you wish to treat them better than 

 they are accustomed to being treated, for they are certain to interpret it as a 

 sign of weakness and ask for more ; so, excepting when I want to reward them 

 for specially arduous work, I never allow that it is my concern for them which 

 prompts me to give them anything more than their dues. For this reason when 

 I wish to give them extra rations, lighter loads, or any similar concession, I always 

 pretend that it is a purely personal or selfish reason that actuates my doing so, and 

 in no way is my change of treatment connected with any consideration for them. 



During the last few years, most of which have been spent on trek, I have 

 found that the only offences I have had to deal with are thefts and misdeeds 

 against the inhabitants of the country passed through. These are excepting a 

 few petty cases of insubordination occurring during the first few days of a trek, 

 but which when once dealt with never again occur. Offences against natives should 

 be dealt with most severely, as for every one discovered probably a dozen have 

 taken place undetected. You are, as a rule, largely dependent on the goodwill 

 of village inhabitants for the obtaining of porters' food and supplies, so that in 

 many places, if a porter steals from a friendly native or maltreats him, nothing 

 will induce any other of his tribe to even come near your camp, and much less to 



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