IN THE JUNGLE 



the small boy's relish for imitation and for playing 

 a game, had completed a miniature safari organiza- 

 tion of their own. Thenceforth they marched in a 

 compact little company, under orders of their '^ head- 

 man. '* They marched very well, too, straight and 

 proud and tireless. Of course we inspected their 

 loads to see that they were not required to carry too 

 much for their strength; but, I am bound to say, we 

 never discovered an attempt at overloading. In 

 fact, the toto brigade was treated very well indeed. 

 M'ganga especially took great interest in their educa- 

 tion and welfare. One of my most vivid camp recol- 

 lections is that of M'ganga, very benign and didactic, 

 seated on a chop box and holding forth to a semi- 

 circle of totos squatted on the ground before him. 

 On reaching camp totos had several clearly defined 

 duties: they must pick out good places for their 

 masters' individual camps, they must procure cook- 

 ing stones, they must collect kindling wood and start 

 fires, they must fill the sufurias with water and 

 set them over to boil. In the meantime, their mas- 

 ters were attending to the pitching of the bwana's 

 camp. The rest of the time the toto played about 

 quite happily, and did light odd jobs, or watched 

 most attentively while his master showed him 

 small details of a safari-boy's duty, or taught him 

 simple handicraft. Our boys seemed to take 



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