92 



FROM THE COAST TO KILIMANJARO 



ready for firing in an imposing manner the customary salute 

 on entering Taveta. Everyone worked hard and eagerly in 

 the preparations for the start, and the caravan got under way 

 amidst loud shouts of rejoicing. As we neared the town the 

 vegetation became greener and more luxuriant, the trees grew 

 higher and closer together, the undergrowth denser, the para- 

 sites more numerous, until at last we were altogether immersed 

 in the dark, humid shades of the forest. The trees rose many 

 feet above our heads, casting their long dark shadows across 

 the path. Bank undergrowth, thorny bushes, and creepers 

 filled up the spaces between their trunks. Many a stem lay 

 rig^ht across the track, which wound in and out and backwards 

 and forwards. We had to stoop and twist, to creep and crawl 

 in single file, to avoid the many impediments in the way. 

 There were long and continual delays, our men were getting 

 exhausted and out of heart, when suddenly there was a shout 

 of joy at the sound of distant firing — the signal that the head 

 of the caravan had reached the actual entrance to Taveta, a 

 wooden door made of tree-trunks closing the pathway to the 

 settlement. And now, like rolling thunder, the sound of the 

 firing of guns echoed on every side, whilst the smoke rose up 

 in clouds from the woods, startling hundreds of birds and 

 terrifying the apes, which had been peering at us at close 

 quarters as we made our painful way along, but now scuttled 

 off to the topmost branches of the trees as fast as they could. 



The people of another caravan camped in the wood were 

 roused from their happy dolce far niente by the noise, and they 

 too wasted a vast amount of powder in giving us a return 

 salute. So there was cracking to the right, cracking* to the 

 left, cracking above us, the really peaceful greetings sounding 

 like the roar of a battle. When we had made our way on all- 

 fours through the narrow entrance, we found ourselves in 

 somewhat freer quarters : we could see better, and the path 



