WE LEAVE TAVETA 



317 



the family circle, perhaps indeed, in a land so prolific as 

 Zanzibar, additions to it. 



Our course was now in the direction of the copious Useri 

 brook, a northern tributary of the Eombo. We skirted along 

 the swamp breaking its course, and ascertained that the Eombo, 

 which flows northwards to the Tzavo, and the Lumi, which 

 follows a southerly course, to empty itself in Lake Jipe, both 

 rise in this marsh. 



To the sound of a volley of shots we once more entered the 

 shady woods of Taveta, and with every demonstration of joy 

 we were escorted by the natives to our old camping-place, now 

 so overgrown with weeds as to be scarcely recognisable. On 

 the same morning another caravan arrived from the opj)osite 

 direction, belonging to a German named Otto Ehlers from Mom- 

 basa, on his way to take over from our old acquaintance, Herr 

 Braun, of Korogwe, the charge of a station of the German East 

 African Company, founded during our absence, on Kilimanjaro. 

 Herr Ehlers was the first link to connect us with Europe after 

 our two years' exile, and his kind readiness to meet our wishes 

 was strained to the uttermost by our insatiable appetite for 

 news. From him we learnt of the serious rising on the coast, 

 which convinced us that we had better hasten to Zanzibar 

 whilst the road there was still open. So we abandoned our 

 plan of going to examine the unexplored salt lake of Manyara, 

 contenting ourselves with a short visit to Miriali and to Herr 

 Braun. Back again at Taveta after these trips, we were fortun- 

 ate enough to meet Dr. Abbott, an enthusiastic young American 

 naturalist, who had come out to study the flora and fauna 

 of Kilamanjaro. He had already been here two years, and the 

 publication of the results of his work may well be eagerly 

 awaited by the scientific world, for they are pretty sure to 

 be exhaustive of the subjects to which he has devoted his 

 attention. 



