144 WAR : CAMPAIGNING IN EAST AFRICA 



kinds abounded and lions were plentiful, for all 

 that country had been previously a game reserve. 



On this trip we caught our first view of " Kili- 

 manjaro, " a wonderfully beautiful mountain, and 

 one of the most glorious sights of Africa — a sight 

 that never stales. At Longido, which was just 

 across the border of the German territory, we 

 found our unit, the E.A.M.R., a regiment com- 

 posed of East African settlers who, on the out- 

 break of war, had immediately come in from all 

 directions from their various farms, armed, in 

 many cases, only with sporting rifles, and bringing 

 with them their own mules and boys. Now these 

 volunteers were a first-class lot of men, and if 

 they had been kept in something like their original 

 state, they would have been invaluable in the 

 early stages of a campaign as irregular mounted 

 infantry, for the Germans had no similar troops 

 to oppose them. Jhe mistake was in trying to 

 turn them into regular troops. 



To such an absurdity had this been carried, that 

 I was told lances had actually been issued to some 

 of them. They were not wanting in first-class 

 officers, the right men for leading raiding parties : 

 such a man, for instance, as Major Clifford Hill, 

 an ideal leader of mounted irregulars. In spite 

 of this mistake, the E.A.M.R. did valuable work 

 during the early part of the campaign, when the 

 British strength in East Africa was far from having 

 the predominance in men and armaments it 

 obtained later on. Personally, I liked the 



