IX 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



the plantations, form parties, and set off into the 

 desert ; where, if they do not succeed in getting 

 ivory, they at least support themselves without reduc- 

 ing the store of grain they have laid up at home. 

 On leaving their country, each man takes with him 

 in a bag, which he carries upon his back, forty or 

 fifty pounds of millet flour. This small supply is 

 sufficient, when eked out by the game they shoot, to 

 support them for several months. They do not con- 



fine themselves to hunting and legitimate trade, but 

 if at any time they fall in with a party weaker than 

 themselves, possessed of wealth in any form, they 

 plunder it. 



These Wakamba are wonderful travellers. I have 

 met some who stated that they had penetrated as far 

 north as Reschatt, and others who boasted of having 

 raided the Turcana. I think that, should a European 

 establish himself among them, he might under their 

 escort succeed in exploring a vast area of country in 

 a most satisfactory manner. Of course, it would be 



Soudanese Guard at Gate 



