SWAHILI ETIQUETTE 149 



elephants. There was rather more bush inland, and altogether 

 the scenery was less dreary than it had been. No game or 

 water-fowl in sight, but we passed the spoors of many buffaloes, 

 and found a good many elephant tusks, weighing altogether 

 some 1541b. 



At noon, to the delight of us all, we noticed smoke rising up 

 in the distance on the north, and knew that we must be near 

 the end of the lake. On the west the coast hills drew back 

 from the shore, shutting in a flat stretch of country, whilst on 

 the east the land sloped rapidly up, shutting out our view of 

 the Tarr range. 



When Count Teleki asked Ali Schaongwe, who reached the 

 camping-place with the last of the men some hours after we 

 did, how things were going, he answered in Swahili fashion, 

 a,nxious as usual to please : Oh, Habari 'ngema, bivana, ivatu 

 v'awili wamehffa! (' Good news, master, two men have died ! '). 

 Swahili etiquette requires that to the question Habari ghani ? 

 ('What's the news?') the answer should, under all circum- 

 stances, be Ngema (' Good '). Only in further conversation is 

 bad news communicated. 



At noon the thermometer generally registered from +38° 

 to +40° Centigrade. 



Monday, April 2. — We camped after marching for three 

 hours, meeting on our way two canoes, in which were five 

 Elmolo, who were on the return journey from Eeshiat to Alia, 

 and had spent the night on board. These people upset all our 

 preconceived notions about negroes, as they neither ran away 

 nor showed any signs of timidity, although they came upon us 

 quite unexpectedly. We learnt from them that nothing was yet 

 known in Eeshiat of our approach. The first meeting with 

 natives unaccustomed to caravans is always a most anxious and 

 exciting time. The too sudden appearance of a large party 

 will often induce flio^ht, or io;norance of the lano-uao^e and 



