VISITORS AND ILLNESS 243 



saved Osa's life and perhaps mine too. For a week I 

 never knew of John's sleeping or eating. He never 

 had time to wash up. The crisis came a few days 

 later when Osa suddenly took a turn for the better 

 and in the most remarkable way started to improve. 

 By February 15th I was on the road to recovery 

 though still weak as a cat. And I knew at last what 

 it meant to be ill in the field. 



As I have said, I go into some detail in describing 

 the complications of our illness because the traveller 

 must be prepared for emergency. This especially 

 applies to those who are not accustomed to a country. 

 And it is for this very reason that I felt a definite 

 responsibility whenever any of my friends came out 

 from America to visit us. 



News of our most prominent visitors reached us by 

 runner at Lake Paradise. He brought a telegram 

 telling us that Mr. George Eastman, Mr. Daniel 

 Pomeroy and Dr. Audeley Stewart were arriving 

 in Nairobi intending to pay us a visit. We also got 

 word that Carl Akeley and his wife with their group 

 of painters and taxidermists had arrived in Nairobi. 



We hastily packed our ''chop" (food) box and set 

 out to meet our friends. About one himdred miles 

 from the Lake we camped at a water hole on the 

 Kaisoot Desert and left our motor cars to be picked 

 up after we had made a week's safari over the Ndoto 

 Moimtains. We hoped to find elephants there, but 



