264 



THROUGH TURKANA AND SUK 



we knew that the further south we went the riper it would be, 

 and as the rest of the journey to Lake Baringo would be 

 through inhabited districts, we hoped to have done with 

 starving now. 



We were told that there was a little trading caravan in the 

 southern portion of Ngaboto, and the next morning some 

 members of it came to see us. It turned out that they knew 

 several of our people, and the excitement over the meeting can 

 be imagined. Both sides had endless adventures and experi- 

 ences to relate. This caravan, consisting of 120 men, was part 

 of a very large expedition under the Mombasa trader Abd-er- 

 rahman, the main body of which was waiting at JSTyemps. Our 

 visitors told us that they left Lake Baringo three months before, 

 and had had a very bad time, as famine prevailed everywhere. 

 Nine men had died of hunger, and they were all in danger of 

 starvation, when fortunately they reached Siawei, a district on 

 the borders of Kavirondo, where there was plenty of food to be 

 had. Thinking the dhurra would be ripe in Ngaboto by this 

 time, they had made their way here, and were going on to 

 Ngamatak to buy donkeys, as they already had more ivory 

 than they could carry. Lastly, they cheered us with the news 

 that Abd-er-rahman had letters for us at Nyemps. 



In spite of the pleasure this meeting gave us all, we soon 

 had reason to regret the presence of this rival caravan, as the 

 natives neglected us more and more for it. The ver}^ next day 

 our market was almost deserted, and our men were nearly 

 reduced once more to what they could find in the woods. 

 Fortunately there were a great many weaver birds here, and 

 some of the trees were literally covered with their nests, full of 

 half-fledged young ones, so that our men were able to supple- 

 ment their meals with them. But we were still quite without 

 any food for the further journey, and as the natives did not 

 seem the least alarmed hj our threat that we would take the 



