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292 



TO KENIA 



tlie land. She really was a clever woman, and we felt assured 

 of her faithfulness, as she had left us a hostage in the person of 

 her son, a young warrior, whom she had brought to the camp 

 to be doctored, as he was disabled by a wound in his foot. 

 She had seen how carefully Count Teleki had dressed the 

 wound, wrapping it up in fine linen ]3andages, and was not 

 likely to fail us now. 



The negotiations with the natives went on very smoothly 

 this time. Qualla knew well how to inspire confidence by his 

 own assured demeanour, and at the very first interview he got 

 so far as to make blood brotherhood with several Wakikuyu. 

 This ceremony takes place thus. A sheep is killed, the liver 

 only is cooked and eaten by the brothers that are to be. A little 

 hitch occurred however, one of the natives on this occasion 

 having substituted the liver of a dog for that of a sheep. The 

 horror of Qualla, who is a strict Maliomedan, may be imagined. 



Luckily for us it rained a little on September 1, and Nakairo 

 comfirmed our expectation that the timely shower would be laid 

 to our credit. Soon came the good tidings that we were free to 

 go through Kikuyuland, but we must first make a treaty of 

 peace. We agreed to this at once, and Qualla and Kijanja 

 with a few men hastened to the place indicated, where they 

 found a few old men waiting for them. When the endless 

 speechifying customary on such occasions was over, our men 

 were told that we were now welcome to enter their land, and 

 need no longer wait at the stream, which was a bad place for 

 holding a market, so they went with their new friends to the 

 clearing to which Tom Charles had penetrated the first day. 

 Here they found such an immense number of native men — 

 most of them, it is true, laden with food — that our people dared 

 not leave the shelter of the forest, and some of them, including 

 Kijanja, even ran away. Qualla, however, remained calm, and 

 made his way through the crowd, which appeared greatly 



