3o6 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



cent millet (now nearly ripe) in their rich alluvial mud. 

 Though one would have thought the natives here must have 

 plenty of grain, nothing was offered to us for sale with the 

 exception of a few green ears — like bunches of small grapes — 

 for which an exorbitant price was asked. 



At last, on ist January 1896, we reached Kere, which I 

 intended should be the end of our long journey, at all events 

 for the present, and our headquarters for some time to come. 

 The march was through dense scrub most of the way, but there 

 was a passable path which was parallel with the river, at times 

 close to the bank or skirting one or two large lagoons which 

 border its course. After about five hours of this, the scrub 

 ends abruptly, and, emerging into the open, the metropolis of 

 Kere, a large fenced village, is before us on a slight rise over- 

 looking the river, a few smaller villages, constituting the 

 kingdom, not far off. The vicinity of the town did not look 

 inviting as camping-ground : behind and around open veldt, 

 yellow with dry grass ; in the immediate environs bare baked 

 ground, sending up clouds of dust under the frequent passage 

 of flocks of goats and little herds of cattle ; not a tree to give 

 shade from the glaring heat. I resolved to seek a cooler, 

 cleaner, and more secluded camp on the river -banks, where 

 groves of fine and shady trees presented an inviting contrast. 



But first we had to exchange greetings with a party of 

 young warriors — fine, tall, well-made fellows many of them, but 

 black as the ace of spades, — who had come out, spears and 

 shields in hand, to see who the intruders were. " Beni ! " (friend) 

 would cry one, to attract your attention ; of this a responsive 

 grunt is the correct acknowledgment. " Na ! " shouts he : 

 " Faya ! " you reply. He — " Na ! " you — " Faya ! " " Na " — 

 " Faya," " Na " — " Faya "- — ad lib. To be polite, you must 

 now accost your friend with " Beni ! " and, after his " nn," take 

 up the " Na ! " while he chimes in with " Faya ! " and so on 

 " Na " — " Faya," " Na " — " Faya," etc., as before. 



I had some trouble in finding a suitable camp. The 



