VI 



TRAVELS m EASTERN AFRICA 



217 



ing beans, millet-flour, and donkeys to carry the same. 

 Thus equipped, with plenty of food, they set out to trade 

 with the Wanderobbo, who, they said, were in a starv- 

 ing" condition, and would gladly exchange whatever 

 ivory they possessed for food and donkeys. 



All of the thirty men were armed with rifles — some, 

 Snyder carbines, but the majority Enfield muzzle- 

 loaders or Tower guns. They had very little ammuni- 

 tion with them, as they depended almost wholly upon 

 the magic skill of the leader to prevent harm coming 

 to them ; and they used the guns simply to fire salutes, 

 which they did as frequently as their supply of ammuni- 

 tion would warrant. Many of these caravans are cut 

 to pieces, even though they take pains to avoid danger- 

 ous countries and go only where they are not likely to 

 fall in with hostile natives. In former times, before 

 Masai Land had been opened up, no caravan of less 

 than 300 persons ever ventured into that country, and 

 ofttimes the force consisted of from 600 to 1000. When 

 in such numbers, Zanzibari caravans invariably take 

 advantage of their strength to harass the natives, and 

 live more by plunder and rapine than by trade. One 

 of my Masai interpreters boasted of having taken part 

 in an expedition consisting of 1000 men, which had 

 been formed at Pangani and other places on the coast 

 opposite Zanzibar. This caravan had spent two years 

 in the interior. At first it had been most successful in 

 trade and plunder, but small-pox broke out among them. 

 This reduced their numbers, they were attacked continu- 

 ally by the natives, and but 200 of them reached the 

 coast alive. 



I asked him what he thought of the medicine-man 



