218 THROUGH MASAILAND TO THE BORDERS OF KIKUYU 



simple enough. Count Teleki insisted on implicit obedi- 

 ence from all, and made it also a condition that no shooting 

 should be allowed as it would scare the game. We were 

 also to have the first pick of everything offered for sale by the 

 natives, and in return the traders had the protection of our 

 presence, and were relieved from the hongo or tribute-money, 

 which is very heavy in Masailand. 



We needed a very considerable quantity of provisions, so we 

 sent Juma Mussa to Malamia, chief of Useri, with a present and 

 an entreaty that he would allow the opening of a big market 

 for us the next day. 



The natives who poured in soon after our arrival told us 

 that there was no Masai kraal within three days' journey, so 

 that we were unable to buy donkeys as we had hoped to do. 

 After much consultation Count Teleki decided to push on at 

 once himself and leave me behind to bu}^ provisions. This 

 would save a lot of time as the Count would send back the 

 animals without returning himself. 



On July 24, then, Count Teleki started with Jumbe Kime- 

 meta and 215 men. The 50 men left with me received enough 

 stuff and beads to buy a fortnight's provisions for themselves, 

 and had to look after their own needs. At 7 o'clock every 

 morning the natives, men and women, came in, bringing 

 bananas, potatoes, beans, eleusine, and banana meal, and the 

 vast camp presented a most animated scene, the men of the 

 caravans converting their turbans, shirts, &c, into sacks in 

 which to carry off their purchases. To keep order and prevent 

 thefts, these extempore sacks were weighed and marked with 

 a label stating name of owner and amount of contents. 



Beyond the group of trees, beneath which our camp was 

 pitched, there was very little worth looking at ; only a stretch 

 of dreary black scorched steppe, with nothing to relieve its 

 monotony but a few guinea-fowls. Now and then, however, 



