"WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



starts on its march. The mileage is increased by de- 

 grees to eighteen miles a day. Most of my men have 

 been with me before, or are well recommended as trusty 

 and efficient. There are, however, a few who will sud- 

 denly disappear leaving their loads behind, but keeping 

 the advance pay. These "wapagazi" must be caught, 

 if possible, and punished, for discipline's sake, and their 

 places must be filled. 



If one travels as a collector, the whole caravan is 

 often busy for days preparing the skins of birds and 

 animals. Particularly hard to prepare are the hides 

 of buffaloes, giraffes, elephants, and rhinoceroses. All 

 the specimens have to be labelled, carefully packed, and 

 sent to the coast by experienced carriers, who, after 

 weeks — or months — return with fresh supplies of food 

 or other necessaries. 



The master of the caravan must, at all times, not 

 only see to everything, even the smallest detail, but be 

 ready to lend a helping hand to every man. Only in 

 this way does he gain the respect, the good-will, and af- 

 fection of his men. 



But there are obstacles and difficulties not of man's 

 making which every explorer and traveller has to 

 make the best of. There is the poisonous tsetse -fly, 

 whose sting kills animals which the traveller has taken 

 along — riding-mules, asses, and cattle. Diseases, too, 

 will attack not only beast but also man. Small-pox is 

 apt to accompany famines. In 1899 I passed through 



374 



