276 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



him that they would remain on the sides of Mount 

 Lolokwi for many months. Our Masai interpreters, 

 who had formerly had experience with the Wande- 

 robbo, were convinced that we should find some of 

 that tribe in the neighbourhood of this mountain, and 

 the following day they set out in search of them, and 

 brought to camp one old man and seven old women. 

 The people they brought to us were mere skeletons, 

 scantily clad in well-worn pieces of antelope hide. 

 Our Masai interpreters reported that they had had 

 the greatest difficulty in inducing these people to 

 accompany them, and it was not until they had told 

 them we had slain an elephant the day before that 

 they would follow them. They stopped but long 

 enough to greet us, and then went forth in all haste 

 to gather what the hyenas and vultures had left of the 

 elephant Lieutenant von Hohnel had killed the pre- 

 vious day. Twenty-four hours later they returned, 

 bringing with them but the bones of the elephant, 

 as the hyenas and vultures had devoured the meat. 

 Nevertheless, these people were satisfied with the 

 bones ; they said they were full of marrow, and that, 

 when the marrow was exhausted, they could pulverize 

 the bones and make a pulp which would last them 

 many days. They had been without other food than 

 berries for fifteen days, as the able-bodied men of their 

 village had been away hunting for that length of time, 

 and had not yet returned. They expected them daily, 

 and when they returned, these people said, we should 

 have no difficulty in procuring guides for the continu- 

 ance of our march. These Wanderobbo supported 

 life to a great extent upon wild honey, which they 



