LAST CHANCE OF WRITING HOME 19 



bellow, and tlie next moment all the animals were on tlieir feet 

 glaring fiercely at us ; but soon away they all sped, first in a 

 hesitating manner, not knowing which way to go, and then 

 with one accord dashing over a ridge and disappearing. 



Before we went down the Nyuki valley we sought for a 

 suitable camping-place, which should be near enough to the 

 game to save us much fatigue in hunting it, but not near enough 

 for our presence to disturb it. An isolated group of low hills 

 divided the valley in two parts, the northern narrow and con- 

 fined, the southern broad and several miles long. The latter, 

 just below the equator, was the favourite haunt of the wild 

 animals, so we elected to camp about a thousand yards to the 

 north of the hills, beneath a shady tree close to the bank of 

 the JSTyuki, which here flows rapidly along a channel many 

 feet deep. The fertilising influence of the stream did not 

 extend beyond its immediate neighbourhood, and but for a few 

 isolated trees and bushes on its banks there was scarcely any 

 vegetation, not even grass enough for our little herd of cattle. 



When we left Nyemps the trading caravan was just preparing 

 for the return journey to Pangani, and Jumbe Kimemeta had 

 remained behind, as he took this opportunity of dismissing 

 most of his men and sending them to the coast with the traders. 

 It would be our. last chance also of despatching letters home, 

 and we proposed to wait here till the caravan passed to take 

 our letters, &c. So nearly the whole of the next day was 

 devoted to writing, a business which, even under the most 

 favourable and ordinary conditions, occupies a good deal more 

 time on an exploring expedition than anyone would imagine — 

 journals, vocabularies, observations, accounts, lists of goods and 

 names, making up altogether quite a formidable mass of literature. 



Our guns in spite of all this were not altogether idle, and as 

 we were sitting at breakfast the voices of a pair of rhinoceroses 

 making love to each other enticed us from the camp. They 



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