238 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



way to Daitcho to buy food. They had a few donkeys 

 with them, and hoped to purchase more. They added 

 their testimony to reports \ had already heard, that 

 famine was existing everywhere to the north of 

 Daitcho. On their way to Daitcho they had met the 

 party of thirty Zanzibari, half of whose donkeys, they 

 said, had already died, and the remainder seemed suf- 

 fering from sickness. 



These Beloochi had been trading in East Africa for 

 many years. They said that it was impossible to 

 account for the disease among the donkeys. At inter- 

 vals varying from three to four years, some disease 

 seemed to break out among these animals, and carried 

 them off in large numbers. Generally the donkey 

 seemed proof against all sickness, and was the most 

 useful animal possible for caravan work. 



On May 26, accompanied by forty well-armed men, 

 Lieutenant von Hohnel and I set out to join George 

 in the Embe country, for the purpose of making a last- 

 ing treaty with that tribe. Our path through the 

 Daitcho country was overgrown with grass and bushes 

 which had sprung up under the influence of the rains, 

 but it was very easy under-foot. Upon reaching the 

 foot-hills on the border of the Embe country, the road 

 became steep, winding, and rough. We had not 

 ascended more than a few hundred feet above the 

 plain, ere the aspect of the country changed, and we 

 found ourselves in a land rich with verdure, covered 

 with plantations, and thickly dotted with groups of 

 native huts. The natives exhibited no fear of us ; in 

 fact, they scarcely deigned to favour us with a glance, 

 as we steadily plodded along through their plantations, 



