224 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



difficulty. He had done one thing, though, I did not approve 

 of, as it was risky; he had been to Laiju, attended by only 

 two men, passing over the Jambeni range, which is inhabited by 

 the Embe tribe, the same treacherous people who had murdered 

 four of my men on my former expedition, and whom I had 

 been obliged to punish for that crime. He had a spear thrown 

 at him, which he brought along ; but he made light of this, 

 which he said was the act of some turbulent young fellow, and 

 declared that it was quite safe now for one man to pass through 

 alone, as there was no hostility shown by the people generally. 



After discussion and consideration I decided it would be 

 best to send once more to Mthara, so that we might accumu- 

 late ample supplies of food for our long journey through the 

 wilderness, with margin for possible hunting by the way. This 

 would give me a little more time in this region, so that I 

 might carry out my plan for hunting in the " subugo " before 

 trekking on. Abdulla also reported that Ndaminuki, my 

 " blood brother," to whom he had been the bearer of presents 

 from me, had behaved in the most friendly and obliging way 

 and done all he could to help him. 



Late in the evening Baithai brought word that his mes- 

 sengers had returned from the Barasaloi " subugo " and reported 

 that they had found no fresh spoor anywhere, nor could they 

 hear any news of elephants being in that neighbourhood now 

 from Ndorobos belonging to that part whom they had met 

 there. In consequence of this I decided to return to El Bogoi 

 the next day with Abdulla, so as to arrange everything there 

 with regard to their second trip to Mthara, and then make a 

 fresh start from there myself for the mountains. In the 

 evening some guinea-fowl perched in a tree close to camp and 

 I took toll of one with my rook rifle. The tusks of the old 

 cow had been brought in to-day. I guessed the pair to weigh 

 about 30 lbs., and this subsequently proved correct to a fraction. 



In the morning we trekked back to El Bogoi by a different 

 and more open route than we had come by. On the way I 



