54 IN AFRICA 



After the arrival of the European steamer at Mom- 

 basa business is brisk for several days as the dif- 

 ferent parties sally forth for the wilds. 



On our ship there were four different parties. A 

 young American from Boston, who has been spend- 

 ing several years doing archaeological work in 

 Crete, accompanied by a young English cavalry 

 officer, were starting out for a six-weeks' shoot south 

 of the railway and near Victoria Nyanza. 



Two professional ivory hunters were starting for 

 German East Africa by way of the lake. Mr. 

 Boyce and his African balloonograph party of 

 seven white men were preparing for the photo- 

 graphing expedition in the Sotik, and our party of 

 four was making final preparations for our march. 

 Consequently there was much hurrying about, and 

 Newland and Tarlton's warehouse was the center 

 of throngs of waiting porters and the scene of in- 

 tense activity as each party sorted and assembled its 

 mountains of supplies. 



Seager and Wormald got off first, going by 

 train to Kijabe, where they were to begin their ten 

 days' march in the Sotik. Here they were to try 

 their luck for two or three weeks and then march 

 back, preparatory to starting home. 



The professional ivory hunters were slow in 

 starting. There was delay in getting mules. One 

 of them had shot three hundred elephants in the 

 Belgian Congo during the last four years, and it 

 was suspected he had been poaching. The other had 

 been caught by the Belgian authorities on his last 



