4o6 THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



cerned. These two savages appeared to enjoy them- 

 selves hugely. Long ere they finished the potions 

 I had prepared for them, they were hilarious in the 

 extreme ; pledges of heartiest friendship were ex- 

 changed between them ; and just before taking his 

 departure, Bykender lifted his voice in a tuneless 

 chant, which Motio translated for me, as vows of 

 the most fervent devotion to the European. I suppose 

 his friendship had been much kindled by the intoxi- 

 cating drink of which he had partaken ; but if " in 

 vino Veritas " has any truth whatever, Bykender s 

 words proved that he was more than satisfied with 

 the treatment he and his people had received from 

 us. I felt convinced that if we had done nothing 

 else in the country, we had at least opened the door 

 to European influence, and that the next white visitor, 

 whoever he might be, would receive nothing at the 

 hands of these people but good treatment. 



Not wishing to exhaust the store of flour we had 

 laid in for our further journey, I set out one day to 

 the Tana River for the purpose of hippopotamus 

 shooting, in order to get food for my men in ex- 

 change for the meat. On the way I killed several 

 water-buck, and was greatly assisted in getting them 

 by the dogs, Felix and one of his puppies, the other 

 puppy having gone with Lieutenant von Hohnel to 

 the coast. 



While en route to the Tana, I met a party of 300 

 Wakamba on their way to the Wanderobbo, for the 

 purpose of trading and hunting for ivory. It seems 

 that most of the men of the Wakamba, when harvest 

 is over, and their presence is no longer needed on 



