i6 SAFARI 



Through the early weeks of February we were 

 busy unpacking our cases, making up the contents 

 into packages of the right sizes for porters and camels 

 to carry. We were also, buying things which we had 

 not needed to ship down and which were used on 

 safari, such as hardware of all sorts, galvanized water 

 tanks, khaki clothing, sugar, coffee, and the native 

 posho. There were also our splendid Willys-Knight 

 motor cars to uncrate and assemble, and hunting li- 

 cences to get, in case we ever found it absolutely 

 necessary to shoot. In Africa these are rather 

 expensive. One takes out a general license to shoot 

 all the common game, the allowance being definite for 

 each kind, though lions, zebra, leopards and hyena 

 are unlimited. Special licenses are issued for ele- 

 phant, rhino, giraffe and ostrich. We took out all of 

 these, for though we should never slaughter recklessly, 

 there might come times when we had to shoot 

 straight and true to protect our lives. 



All these weeks I was choosing my native boys, 

 porters, gun-bearers, house servants, cooks, and 

 headmen. While all lived in native districts near 

 Nairobi, their blood was that of a score of widely 

 scattered African tribes. Many of them had worked 

 for us before and the news of our arrival had been 

 spread far and wide by some mysterious underground 

 telegraphy. I did not have to worry therefore about 

 hands, but I did worry about oxen and wagons, 



