42 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



undergrowth, and forced to take a line some distance 

 from the river, where the country was more open. We 

 usually broke camp about 7 a.m., that is, an hour 

 after dawn, and took up the march. As it w^as our 

 invariable custom to camp near the river, our path at 

 first led through very tall grass and over plantations. 



While on the march, from my horse's back I could 

 just see the heads of the tall spears carried by the 

 Pokomo guides, which danced and gleamed in the light 

 of the rising sun. Presently we emerged from the grass 

 and were confronted by a tangled and impassable grove, 

 which called for the use of axes and machettes. These 

 came at a call, and soon the forest rang with the re- 

 sounding blows of the axes, the cracking of broken 

 boughs, and the shouts of the workmen. In three- 

 quarters of an hour a path was made ; and where but 

 a short time before all was noise and disorder, the cara- 

 van wended silently and smoothly on its way. 



There was something imposing in the picture pre- 

 sented by the caravan, when viewed from a short dis- 

 tance. The camels swayed gracefully and majestically 

 onward beneath their high-piled burdens, followed by a 

 winding line of men, made tall and imposing by the 

 massive loads borne upon their heads. Following the 

 men, were the cattle and donkeys, which added solidity 

 to the column; and, bringing up the rear, as a fitting 

 finish to the whole, rode tall Lieutenant von Hohnel on 

 his white pony. As a rule, not a sound was to be heard. 

 Occasionally, however, some porter, bursting with vitality 

 unsuppressed by the eighty-pound burden he bore, car- 

 olled forth some simple lay, such as: "Vily vily, sawa 

 sawa, pocho!" — the burden of the song being of food 



A 



