64 



FROM THE COAST TO KILIMANJARO 



far from wliicli was Mafi, our next lialting-place. When 

 Sedenga lieard we meant to go on he did all he could to per- 

 suade us to camp near him ; hut I held to my original purpose, 

 in spite of the great heat and the passive resistance of my men, 

 who had counted on all the revelry of a reception at such an 

 important place. The last bit of the road led across a bare 

 sandy steppe, which was, however, peopled with numerous 

 cranes, the first I had seen. A good hour had passed, and 

 we were lieginning to long to be in sight of our goal, before we 

 at last spied a palisade, in front of which stood a European in 

 white clothes. This was Herr Brausche, the superintendent of 

 the station of Mafi, on whose invitation I had ni}^ tent pitched 

 and the loads piled up inside the fence, whilst the men camped 

 by the side of the river in the Waru^ui village of Kalole. 



The station was enclosed in a very strong palisade some forty 

 paces square. On one side were the dwelling-house, a kitchen, 

 and a store-house, miserable looking mud huts, not at all worthy 

 of the neat and carefully kept surroundings. But soon from 

 the kitchen issued appetising sounds of preparation for my 

 reception, which quickly cut short my architectural strictures. 



The station, which was, however, soon after abandoned, 

 was situated at the foot of the well-wooded Mount Mafi, at a 

 height of 900 feet above the sea-level, and was, according to 

 Herr Brausche, jDerfectly free from fever, although there was a 

 wide-stretching swamp hard by, haunted by many different 

 kinds of birds. 



I decided to stop here two days, as I could procure ox- 

 hides for making the saddles required, and the loads would 

 have to be re-arranged to take up the forty packages I had 

 to carry forward from Mafi. 



The saddle used by the natives in this part of Africa is a 

 very simple but most practical affair, so that it was really 

 better to stick to the old fashion. The back of the animal is 



