390 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA chap. 



hand, from which I suffered agonies. I believe it was made 

 worse by my allowing one of my men to cut into it ; but the 

 pain was so excruciating and continuous that I was ready to 

 try anything, and would have almost submitted to have it cut off 

 at one time. Thus, by another stroke of ill-luck, this originally 

 trivial affair disabled me again for fully a month, during which 

 I suffered greatly and was of course a prisoner in camp. At 

 the same time I thought myself extremely lucky not to be 

 compelled to march while my hand was in this state. 



Lesiat used to come frequently to see me, and kept me 

 supplied with quantities of honey ; indeed he considered it his 

 own peculiar privilege to keep my honey keg full. He used 

 to eye my galvanised iron buckets with admiration, and often 

 begged me to leave one with him on my departure for the 

 coast, together with my enamelled wash-hand basin as a cover 

 for the same, promising that I should find it full on my next 

 visit. He explained that wooden utensils with skin covers 

 were liable to be damaged by insects, and declared that one 

 large receptacle of the kind, which he had hidden full of honey 

 in the forest against my return, had been eaten by a hyena. 

 One day, when I was at my worst, he brought me about a 

 quart of the most lovely honey, like olive oil, extracted from 

 pure, white virgin comb, telling me to drink it all like water 

 before going to bed, with the assurance that it would do me 

 good like medicine. I did not feel equal to following his 

 advice literally, though I have little doubt that the effect could 

 not have failed to be pretty drastic ; at the same time, I hold 

 strongly the opinion of the sage of old, exemplified as it is in 

 the Ndorobos of to-day, that honey is " health to the bones." 



Elephant news was not much use to me under these 

 circumstances ; but I learnt that there were some on the 

 western slopes of the Lorogis. This information had been 

 gained from a neighbouring community, some of whom had 

 been with me formerly on my excursion down the Seya valley. 

 It appeared that several of these people had been on a honey- 



