128 ON SAFARI 



of the wads beino- driven rioht throuo-li and stickino; 

 inside the skin beyond. This boar weighed over 

 200 lbs., with tusks projecting nearly ten inches from 

 the jaws. 



The country here swarmed with guinea-fowl, and was 

 studded with thickets and clumps of euphorbia and of 

 those spiky aloes which form a favourite food of elephants. 

 There was plenty of old sign and spoor of these animals 

 — evidently made during the rainy season — as well as 

 aloes broken down, and lumps of the fibrous portions 

 chewed and diso;oro;ed. 



A long low ridge impending our camp — the name of 

 the spot was Campi M'Baruk — was strewn with human 

 skulls and bones. Such objects are" not an uncommon 

 spectacle in Africa, yet I do not remem1)er to have seen 

 such c[uantities as here. It was a regular Golgotha — the 

 result, perhaps, of sorne intertribal fray, or possibly of 

 small-pox.^ 



It was at tbis point that we met with the Masai 

 hordes already mentioned, their cattle filling the valley. 

 These savages displayed no sign of friendship. While 

 camp was being pitched, a band of a dozen stalwart El- 

 Moran, or warriors, stark naked but for their spears and 

 a coating of red clay, passed close by without deigning 

 to take the slightest notice of the white man. This was 

 lacking in respect for the "dominant race," so I sent a 

 messenger, bidding them come into my camp and inform 

 me of the whereabouts of the game. They told me the 

 nearest hongoni were a day's march to the westward, 

 — that is, towards the crater of Meningai, which was 

 quite out of my course. 



It was now obvious that this whole venture Avas a 

 mistake and a failure : our troubles, moreover, were 

 intensified by Elmi going down with fever, and I had 

 myself "a touch of sun" from the midday's heat. I 



^ Mr. Jackson tells me that, years before, a trading caravan of 

 Swaliili, under a man named M'Baruk, was surprised at this spot by 

 Masai, who massacred the entire safari. 



