RAIN MEDICINE DEMANDED 



249 



Turkana men, to keep the peace. These old fellows were bent 

 on getting rain medicine from ns, and harped unceasingly upon 

 it. As there was not the slightest sign of rain, I at first evaded 

 this difficulty by making out that the Turkana were far too 

 poor to purchase the medicine. But after much persuasion I 

 relented so far as to say the lowest price would be four camels 

 and four oxen. The negotiation fell through after all, however, 

 as again the sly proposal was made that I should give them a 

 little taste of my power to begin with in exchange for two sheep. 

 Our good Lemagori was very indignant at this suggestion, and 

 scarcely liked to translate it for me. I too heard it with very 

 mixed feelings. 



Trading here, as elsewhere in Turkana, was weary work, and 

 there was a dispute about every animal we bought. The price 

 was often referred to a big shauri after the matter seemed 

 settled, and, though never actually in danger, as we only 

 admitted women and children to the camp, we had to be 

 perpetually on our guard. On the morning of the second 

 day of our stay, for instance, there was such a hot dispute 

 between Qualla and an especially insolent warrior that I thought 

 it desirable to make a demonstration with our guns. I bought 

 a shield and let my men fire a volley at it, riddling it with holes ; 

 then I shot one of our own sheep at a distance of some 200 paces, 

 and, turning to the natives, challenged them to fight us if they 

 felt so disposed. Peace was the result, and the Turkana men 

 begged us to stop another day as they wanted to talk about 

 the rain medicine again. I knew, however, that there could 

 be no better result of a shauri on that subject than before, so 

 I was off again on the morning of June 13, taking with me one 

 ox, fourteen donkeys, and some ninety sheep and goats, and, 

 following the route by which we had come, we got back to the 

 camp in Gaterr in the afternoon of the 14th. 



Count Teleki was but little pleased either with the results of 



