244 E. a Hore—The Heart of Ajrica. 



specially constructed light carts, clraAvn by African natives, and 

 the rest, in small pieces, were to be carried by the porters in the 

 ordinary way. 



The mode of travel was walking, except when now and then 

 an invalid was carried in a hammock. The method of transport 

 was l^y means of native porters, hundreds of whom devote them- 

 selves to this work. They are paid $5 per month as wages, pay- 

 able at Zanzibar on their return to the coast, less such advance 

 in kind as they may draw from their leader along the road. In 

 addition, they get a regular allowance of two yards of Avhite 

 calico per. seven days, each man, as barter with which to obtain- 

 food. 



The organization and start of such a party took some time, 

 and parties of from 100 to 300 were dispatched along the road 

 as things were ready, until, when I started with the final rear 

 guard, we had on the road over 900 of these porters, with their 

 headmen and petty officers, all under complete organization. 



The first start of the boat-section carts was the scene of apparent 

 disaster. The men, wild with excitement and uniting their 

 shouts with those of onlookers, were beyond all restraint for the 

 moment, and as they rounded a sharp turn to get out of the 

 village of Saadani, over went the carts, one after the other, on 

 their sides ; and it was some time before I could train the men to 

 steer more carefully or to move gently down a declivity. In 

 time, however, the whole thing worked well. The fore compart- 

 ment of the boat, going stem first, often forced its OAvn way 

 through masses of brush and creeper, helping to clear the way 

 for the narrower sections, whose carts insiimated themselves 

 through surprisingly small gaps. The men themselves were 

 most zealous in the service, and as we emerged from lengthy 

 stretches of jungle, ascended steep river banks, or jolted whole 

 days over rugged stony places unharmed, we made up our minds 

 that, these carts would "go anywhere." In twenty days we 

 reached Upwapwa, 200 miles from the coast, and joined an 

 advance party awaiting us ; and after a few days rest and re- 

 organization, we started once more Avestward. 



The first village beyond, in the country of Ugogo, Avas thirty 

 miles off. The first day Avas a coiiiparatively easy march to a 

 watering place, but the next tAvo days gave us tough work. The 

 thick, tangled, thorny scrub became quite dense, and for those 

 two days Ave had to cut our Avay through it foot by foot. Hour 



