II 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



55 



tion by the Somali, and used by them as hunters, scouts, 

 and herdsmen. 



The account of his capture given to me by my men 

 was as follows : On taking up the trail leading from 

 the river they had suddenly come upon a small zeriba. 

 This, at first, they thought to be empty ; but upon 

 entering it they were startled to see their present cap- 

 tive spring to his feet with an arrow strung in his bow. 

 Before he could find time to discharge his weapon, 

 however, he was knocked down by a blow with the 

 butt-end of a gun in the hands of one of my men, and 

 after a scuffle was bound and brought into my presence. 

 Upon being questioned, he admitted he was one of 

 the party who had robbed the Giriama. He said the 

 party consisted of eight men belonging to Hassan 

 Burgan (a Somali ruling over a portion of the coun- 

 try between Kismayu and the Tana). He and his party 

 had been sent out by their master to hunt ivory, but 

 had secured none ; and they were surprised and de- 

 lighted to find the Giriama, and had taken their ivory 

 from them. The captive insisted that at present he 

 was alone, and that his companions had gone to the 

 coast with their plunder. 



I went to the zeriba, and found it full of Somali 

 utensils. It looked as if it had been occupied by a 

 larger party than our captive had told me of. All 

 around were bits of giraffe meat drying in the sun, 

 and, when surprised by my men, the Midgan had been 

 engaged in making sandals from a piece of the giraffe 

 hide. The presence of prayer mats disclosed the fact 

 that they were Mohammedans. I gave the captive a 

 good lecture, and told him to inform his master, Hassan 



