16 



AT NYEMPS 



possibly spare under tlie guidance of Qualla to Miansini to 

 try and get food there from the Wakikuyu. The men and 

 the goods they were to take were chosen that same afternoon, 

 and Qualla started early on December 17 with 170 porters, a 

 few Askari and guides, and twenty-two donkeys. His instruc- 

 tions were to make a forced march to Miansini and buy as 

 much corn as he could, possibly carry back. Ten days are 

 generally allowed for this distance, but to ensure all possible 

 speed we only gave out five days' rations. 



As we should have to wait to go further north for four or 

 five weeks longer, we started on another hunting expedition on 

 the morning of the 18th, taking with us all our cattle, as they 

 were scarcely safe at Nyemps, and leaving behind only two 

 Somal and fifteen men, most of them ill, including the guides 

 Manwa Sera and Meri, who had been ailing ever since we left 

 Taveta. 



Led by Bedue, who, having been with Thomson and Bishop 

 Hannington, knew the districts south of Nyemps well, Count 

 Teleki followed the now familiar path to the upper waters of 

 the Gruaso Nyuki, where we had heard there was plenty of 

 game. I could not start with the rest of the party, as I had 

 some work I was obliged to do, and it was not until some time 

 later that, with Chuma, Baraka, and Jomari, I hastened after 

 the main body, overtaking our cattle at the warm springs, 

 making their leisurely way along, but seeing no sign of the 

 Count. I pressed on happily, however, for I already knew the 

 way to a certain extent, and there were plenty of fresh foot- 

 prints to help me. The sun rose higher and higher, its rays 

 becoming more and more scorching, but we pressed on, all 

 the more eagerly as a doubt began to trouble us as to whether 

 after all we were on the track of the Count's party. But the 

 footprints reassured us, and we went on till we found ourselves 

 in a narrow valley shut in on every side by rocks. We now 



