XIII A SO JO URN A T RES HI A T A ND KERE 3 1 3 



explained, however, that, until the crops now ripening should 

 be ready to gather, grain was scarce. 



In the meantime I had a hut built for myself and a shed 

 to store my goods, food, etc., in. It was a great comfort to 

 have a roof and walls, a bit more substantial than canvas, to 

 shelter one and rest in ; for the weather was excessively hot 

 notwithstanding that, being north of the line, it was now really 

 the coolest time of year here. During this delay I sent some 

 men back to Bumi to extract the tusks of my elephants, now 

 loose through decay, and bury them in the kraal there. I 

 never chop out ivor)' now, unless in a hurry, as that is a 

 laborious process and the ivory is often chipped ; whereas in a 

 few days natural decomposition causes the tusks to slip out 

 without trouble and uninjured. 



One night at this time a hyena carried off and chewed up 

 Mnyamiri's powder-horn, which had been hanging from a bush 

 right over its sleeping owner. His own account of it was that 

 the " fisi " (as they call it) had intended to seize him, but had 

 made a bad shot. The next day he offered up a goat in conse- 

 quence, and went through a religious ceremony in connection 

 with the sacrifice to protect him from wild beasts. I was 

 pleased to accept a bit of the goat, as it was a meat famine 

 with me at the time ; but I had my doubts as to the efficacy 

 of exorcism against marauding animals. That night my own 

 ration of beans was carried off from Feruzi's (my cook's) camp, 

 and the bag containing it rent open by the " fisi." This might 

 be, of course, because it was the portion of an unbeliever ; but 

 unfortunately for the success of such an explanation, the 

 following day a leopard chased a native cur out of the bush 

 right up to and nearly over Mnyamiri himself, in broad day- 

 light, nearly frightening him out of his senses. I myself heard 

 the yelping, very suggestive of intense fear, made by the flying 

 pariah. This additional proof of the boldness of the beasts 

 here rather upset Mnyamiri's confidence in his charm, and I 

 think he almost regretted having grudged a bit of his goat as 



