214 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



a box of stores has become filled with myriads of the small ants (tungu). The 

 best way then to induce them to leave is to place the box near a fire so that the 

 smoke and heat drive into it and out they go. 



Perhaps some of the most unpleasant experiences of trekking are the continual 

 wettings received, either from rains or in crossing swollen rivers and marshes, or from 

 the dew on the long grass, which last is of daily occurrence. Not only do the 

 constant wettings and subsequent dryings in the sun spoil one's boots and make them 

 crack, crinkle, and perish, and likewise the sewing rot, but the boots themselves make 

 the feet sore when they dry so hard. In East Africa, where the grass in most places 

 is short, it is a good plan to start the day in sandals or sandshoes, in which kit you 

 will suffer no discomfort from the feet getting wet. Of course a man follows 

 carrying boots and socks, which are put on as soon as the dew has dried off the 

 grass. In countries of long, coarse grass, as in Uganda, the troubles from dew are 

 very great, as you get wet every morning from the neck or waist downwards, and 

 the dew takes longer to dry off the long grass. If sandals or shoes are worn, 

 the ankles and legs get cut by the coarse grass, and rubbed sore by the continual 

 friction, and scratched by thorns, for it is impossible in such country to see where 

 you are stepping. In countries where the grass is not too long, then a mule or 

 horse, ridden during the first few hours of the morning, solves the problem of how to 

 keep dry. 



During the rainy season you should try to arrange your treks so as to miss the 

 actual rain, but, with all precautions, you will often be caught by sudden showers or 

 thunderstorms. If, when trekking along with the caravan, one of these sudden 

 downpours occurs, there is no reason whatever why you should get soaked through, 

 and all your loads sodden by the rain. You can often hear the rain in the trees 

 some time before it reaches you ; then, if the tent has been, as before suggested, 

 given to a strong porter who leads the caravan, the inner fly of the tent can be 

 rapidly put up and the loads placed beneath it, whilst you can sit on a box and 

 read and smoke till the rain ceases. The porters, if they are professional porters, 

 have also their tents, one or two of which they can put up if they like to take 

 the trouble. If your porters are naked savages, the rain will trouble them little ; it 

 is only to anyone wearing clothes that rain is such a discomfort. When wet through 

 after a sudden storm I have often envied the naked savage, for, directly the rain 

 ceases, he is dry again, whereas I have had to tramp on, feeling the discomfort 

 of wet clothes for several hours afterwards. 



Baganda porters are very quick at rigging up a shelter from the rain. They draw 

 downwards a few boughs of some tree and tie the ends, and then pull up armsful 



