AFEICA— SOUTH AND EAST 7 



alone with the " Safari " — as a mobilised hunting ex- 

 pedition is called ; for it was obviously inadvisable to 

 keep a crowd of between forty and fifty " boys " idle 

 among the many temptations of Nairobi. 



In Equatoria, it should be explained, there is none 

 of that monotonous " trekking-in " by ox- waggon that 

 characterised South- African hunting — trekking that often 

 occupied wearisome weeks ere a game- country was 

 reached. Here the terror of the tsetse-fly has eliminated 

 all that, and transport, away from the railway, is entirely 

 effected upon the heads of native porters. Thence 

 springs the genesis of the " Safari." 



A feature in this fever was the rapid recovery. 

 On the day when the doctor told me I might start on 

 the morrow I found myself too weak to stand upright 

 unaided, and next morning required support on both 

 sides to limp as far as the station, though barely two 

 hundred yards away. It seemed madness to go ; yet I 

 obeyed and went, with the result that within forty- eight 

 hours I could do a twelve-hours' march and after that 

 was as fit as ever, and remained so durino- three months' 

 hunting. The experience seems elocjuent of the superb 

 climate of these highlands and of its recuperative 

 qualities. 



Possibly there may exist, in that combination of 

 equatorial sun-power tempered by high altitude, some 

 health-giving property, an elixir, that yet remains to 

 be defined by medical science. I feel it nothing less 

 than East Africa's due to mention that after each of my 

 expeditions therein (despite the accidental ill-luck of get- 

 ting malarial fever) I have personally felt reinvigorated 

 and about five years younger ! Permanent residence 

 there may, of course, be cpiite a diff"erent matter. 



On reaching my destination at Eburu that evening, 

 after seven hours' railway journey, it was both surprising 

 and grateful to notice the evident pleasure shown by 

 our retinue of "savages" at my recovery, though I was, 

 so far, almost a total stranger to them all. They 

 crowded round the carriage, and on seeing that I had 



