NATIVE MODE OF GETTING FIRE 



81 



prevent the natives from overwhelming us with their visits, 

 and the chief, Mpesa, who was, however, quite a young man, 

 sat in my tent nearly the whole time. Amongst other things, 

 he begged for poison, to aid him in dealing with the Masai, 

 who often came to him as uninvited and unwelcome quests. 

 I got him off this topic pretty soon, however, by asking him to 

 show me how to get fire by rubbing two sticks together. It 

 was really wonderful, considering the moisture-laden atmo- 

 sphere, with what rapidity he did as I requested. The materials 

 employed were such as we saw wherever we went : two simple 

 bits of wood, one flat, about six inches long and not quite one 

 inch wide, with a row of grooves in one side ; the other was 

 about twelve inches long, and of the thickness and shape of a 

 lead-pencil. The latter was fixed in one of the grooves of the 

 former, held tightly between the palms of the hands, and whirled 

 rapidly round and round. In a very few seconds the wood- 

 dust produced by the friction, and which fell through the 

 grooves, began to smoke ; this dust was carefully nursed into a 

 blaze, and then fed with fine grass and bits of cotton stuff. 

 The whole thing is done so rapidly that our men, even the lazy 

 Wasungu, always employ this method, on quite short halts, for 

 lighting their pipes ; and the caravans trading in this district 

 never carry matches, but get fire with the help of a blank 

 cartridge. 



On March 19 we were off again, no longer skirting the 

 mountain-base, but going through the wide valley between 

 the Pare and Kwa Nduyu ranges. In an hour's time we 

 passed Mpesa's dirty little village, then crossed a number of 

 deep brooks, and at eleven o'clock in the morning stopped at 

 a wayside pool to cook our food. These marches, broken by 

 a mid-day halt for food, are known as telekesa marches, and 

 are made when there is a long stretch of waterless district to 

 be traversed. After a good rest, the caravan moves on late in 

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