A CURIOUS MUSICAL INSTRUMENT oil 



axes in use are obtained in exchange for various articles of 

 barter. Mikufu is made in the country itself. 



Our march was now along a very rugged path in an easterly 

 direction, through a broad and less shut-in valley than that we 

 had left. There were fewer natives here, and these few were 

 much more peaceably inclined, not a single dispute of any kind 

 occurring. Our question, ' Where is Kenia ? ' was, to our sur- 

 prise, answered by pointing in a southerly direction, but we 

 discovered that the Wakamba call every mountain Kenia, and 

 Kilimanjaro was the one indicated now. They distinguished 

 it from other heights by merely adding Kitschua tscheu^ or the 

 white head, on account of its snow-clad peak. Unfortunately 

 Kenia was completely hidden by clouds, but we could make 

 out a low line of hills at its southern base, which the natives 

 called the Eumumone mountains. 



The next day we pushed on southward between two rugged, 

 picturesque mountain slopes. The natives were all very friendly, 

 and the boys were almost as full of fun as little Europeans, for 

 they were playing at raiding, using sand balls in default of 

 snow to fling at their enemies. We camped near a village, the 

 chief of which, though he did not visit us, sent us two plump 

 oxen. 



Our next halting-place in the same valley was on the frontier 

 of Ukambani, by a shallow, half dried-up stream. The natives 

 here were at first timid and shy, but were soon reassured when 

 they found what peaceable folk we were. They performed 

 some dances for our amusement, using a stick with bells to 

 beat time, the first musical instrument we had seen on our 

 travels. It consisted of a hollowed- out piece of stem some 

 three inches in diameter and three feet long, at the upper edge 

 of which were fastened two rows of iron bells. This instrument 

 was held vertically, and when the ground was struck with it, 

 it gave out a dull sound, forming a kind of accompaniment to 



