WE RETURN TO RESHIAT 



207 



elders of the village came to me and explained by joantomimic 

 signs that the firing upset the nerves of the fair sex, many of 

 whom were already suffering from palpitation of the heart. 



The next morning we got nearly a ton more dhurra, which 

 made altogether as much as we could carry, so I ordered a 

 start at noon. When the moment of departure came, the 

 natives of the village gathered about us, all seeming very sorry 

 to lose us. I said a few kind words to them, and bade them 

 adieu in the usual manner, which I had learnt from the Burke- 

 neji woman. As I wound up by shouting in a loud voice, 

 ' Buma hoogi' (' Oh, all ye Buma'), ' na na,' a chorus of a 

 hundi'ed voices replied with a reiterated ' Fay a, fayd,' and with 

 that we left the most charming, sociable negro tribe I had 

 ever seen. 



Meanwhile the flooding of the lowlands had made further 

 progress, and much of the district we had traversed before was 

 already impassable ; so that, in spite of as rapid a march as 

 possible, we did not get to the camp at Eesliiat till the evening. 



The Count was very pleased with the result of our mission. 

 During his three days of loneliness he had been earnestly 

 studjdng the chances of success if we went back by our old 

 route ; and now that we had brought the requisite amount of 

 dhurra, he at once decided for starting by it, without disturbing 

 the good opinion the natives had of us by laying forcible hands 

 on anything. The record in our journals of what we had 

 already achieved convinced Count Teleki that if every man 

 were laden to the very utmost possible extent we might reach 

 Marsabit or Turkana ; which of the two would be decided 

 by the way, according to circumstances. It was a desperate 

 plan at the best, but the only one open to us. We were to 

 start the day after next, and we were the more anxious to get 

 off, as small-pox was rapidly spreading amongst the Eesliiat. 



The next day was devoted from early morning to the 



