WE GIVE OUT EAIN MEDICINES, ETC. 



381 



some zebras. I liad cocked my gun and was just about to fire 

 when I heard muffled cries of ' Bwana ! Bwana ! ' from my people, 

 w^ho were some 200 paces behind me. I looked round and, 

 noticing that the men were beckoning to me, I uncocked my 

 weapon and hastened back to find the cause of alarm to be 

 four lions, two males, a female, and a cub, hurrying along some 

 few hundred paces off'. They had been making for the same 

 group of zebras as mj^self, but my appearance had startled 

 them. We saw no other lions but these on this trip. 



We resumed our march after this incident, and about noon 

 reached the Ndoro camp, where all had been going on as usual, 

 except that the supply of provisions had ceased, the natives 

 being still afraid of the Masai they had seen with us. The old 

 Leibon, however, still remained in camp, as he had not yet got 

 the medicine he wanted. We told him we must have a big 

 market before his wishes could be gratified. 



He promised us one, and both sides nobly fulfilled their 

 obligations. The market was held, and soon afterwards he was 

 in possession of some of all our remedies for suffering. His 

 requirements made rather a formidable list. Of course rain 

 medicine came first, then he must have a medicine against all 

 enemies in general, and one against the Masai in particular, 

 one against cattle disease, one to keep the birds off the fields, 

 and so on. But we were equal to every emergency, and pro- 

 duced old cocoa tins, mustard, alum, slips of paper, and so on, 

 winding up with a bottle of effervescing water, which he put to 

 his lips in fear and trembling, yet with eager curiosity, and 

 emptied. To wind up in the most approved African fashion 

 we spat in his face and on his chest and hands, and who was 

 happier than he at that moment ? Gladly would he have seen 

 at once the working of our remedies, but we assured him that 

 they would not take effect for eight days, as we must first 

 communicate with the great Ngai on Kenia. 



