IX 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



427 



of American sheeting (marduf) was produced ; and 

 this the poor traders did not have in stock. More- 

 over, the Rendile forced them to pay enormous prices 

 for every gourd of water they took from the streams ; 

 and finally, after exhausting all their store of goods 

 in presents to the Rendile for the privilege of mere 

 existence, they were driven out of the country with 

 shouts of scorn and warnings never to return. I am 

 somewhat curious as to the manner in which the next 

 European will be treated by the Rendile. I think 

 that, unless he is well equipped, and possessed of a 

 thorough knowledge of native character, he will expe- 

 rience great difficulty with these people. 



Ever since the middle of October the air was sen- 

 sibly charged with moisture, and on the night of Octo- 

 ber 23 my slumbers were interrupted by the noise of 

 a terrible downpour of rain. We had been assured by 

 the natives that there were two rainy seasons annu- 

 ally in this part of the country — one, by far the heav- 

 ier, in the spring, beginning in March and ending in 

 early June ; the other, as far as I could learn, com- 

 menced about the middle of November, and continued 

 about two or three weeks. When I recalled the fact 

 that George with twenty-five of my men and seventy- 

 five donkeys was on the other side of the Tana River, 

 and that another party of thirty of my men was also 

 over there engaged in purchasing goats, my anxiety 

 at this unexpected rainfall can readily be imagined. 



Even in the dry season the Tana River is difficult to 

 cross, but when swollen by the rains it assumes such 

 proportions that with the means at the disposal of the 

 leader of a caravan, passage over it is well-nigh impossi- 



