VII SECOND EXPEDITION 143 



one is present. While one member of the flock is chased, the 

 rest stand in a ruck on the ground close by, gaping with 

 craned necks in stupid amazement at the apparition, and may 

 be mown down for the pot if needed and a shot-gun is used. 

 I once killed thirteen in a few minutes out of a large flock, 

 using nine cartridges. The first shot killed five on the ground, 

 in the manner described ; the rest were picked off in ones and 

 twos from the trees into which they had flown, and where they 

 sat watching my little dog below. But except the very young 

 ones, these handsome birds are not so good for the table as 

 the common sort, though in size and appearance, with their 

 light-blue breasts and pheasant-like tails, they surpass all the 

 other members of the genus. 



After crossing and leaving the river, two or three days' 

 march takes us to the commencement of Ukambani, where we 

 join our former path at Ikutha (the German mission). Up to 

 this point (a fortnight's journey) we had to depend upon what 

 we had carried on donkeys from the coast ; but here food may 

 be bought, and, through the kind assistance of my friend Mr. 

 Sauberlich, we readily obtained a good supply. 



The first part of Ukambani on this route is but sparsely 

 peopled, and the country is, except where cultivated, for the 

 most part covered with bush and badly watered. As one 

 travels northwards it rises and becomes more open and hilly, 

 and a good deal of it is densely populated. Here we get 

 among granite hills, bare of wood, and even firewood is scarce ; 

 what bush there may in former times have been, having been 

 used up. But water is now plentiful. The Wakamba are an 

 enterprising, but unprepossessing, people. On our way up we 

 had been constantly meeting large parties of them taking 

 cattle, sheep, and goats, and an odd tusk or two of ivory for 

 sale in Mombasa, or returning with the proceeds in the shape 

 of goods. Though peaceable enough in their own country, 

 they are inclined, when not themselves raided by the Masai, 

 to harass their weaker neighbours. 



