130 TAVETA AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MERU 



naked eye, appeared the first vulture. So keen is the vision of 

 birds of prey thattliey can spy the very tiniest morsel anywhere 

 in a vast range of space. Before long the vultures formed a 

 cloud above us, circling ever nearer, till they settled on the 

 ground close by us, to wait patiently till we left the remains of 

 the feast for them. They came so near that we could have 

 thrown stones at them ; but they showed no shyness whatever, 

 as no one ever drives them away. After the vultures came the 

 so-called marabout storks. Directly we turned our backs on 

 the prey the foul creatures were at work upon it, and the 

 struggle for the best bits, especially the entrails, began again, 

 whilst the storks marched round and round like sentries, ready, 

 as they cannot get the flesh off the bones themselves with their 

 long bills, to pounce on the portions secured by the vultures. 

 We never saw the vultures make any fight for their spoil, 

 although they were bigger and stronger than the storks. 



We had still a long way to go that day, so we left the vultures 

 and storks to their banquet and passed on across the bare steppe 

 on the west of the Kikaso. That portion between it and the 

 Engilata river we found to be dotted with little hills from 16 

 to 30 feet high and covered with what looked like molehills. 

 Yv''e had noted this peculiar formation from a distance, and had 

 hoped to examine it closely; but all our attention was now con- 

 centrated upon the natives, who, like the vultures, spied us 

 from afar, and o-athered about us in ever increasiuQ- numbers 

 from every side. We watched their approach with the greatest 

 interest, and, in accordance with the custom of the country, 

 waited, to exchange news with them. The composed and un- 

 embarrassed manner in which they greeted us and offered us 

 their hands contrasted forcibly with the shyness of most wild 

 negro tribes. The way they chatted and laughed was really 

 charming. During the short halt some fifty or sixty natives 

 gathered about us ; of course we whites were the chief objects 



