CHAP. VI 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



237 



less, it would not do for us to set out until we were 

 convinced of the peaceable intentions of the Embe, 

 our most powerful neighbours. 



Shortly after our arrival at Daitcho, the Zanzibari 

 traders whom we found there left for the north, with 

 sixty donkeys well laden with flour and beans, which 

 they hoped to exchange for ivory among the Wan- 

 derobbo. 



The day following the fire, twelve other traders 

 arrived at Daitcho. This small caravan was in 

 charge of two natives from Beloochistan, named Gwa- 

 haram and Abdurachman. It may seem extraordinary 

 that Beloochi should be found in the interior of 

 Africa, but at Zanzibar and many other points along 

 the east coast, such as Mombasa, Pangani, and Bur- 

 gamoyo, many Beloochi have settled during the past 

 fifty years. The Sultan of Zanzibar is in close rela- 

 tion with the Sultan of Muscat, Arabia. The latter 

 place lies not far from Beloochistan ; and it is via 

 Muscat that most of these Beloochi came to the 

 coast of Africa. To me they appeared to be a 

 much finer race than the Arabs, more energetic, and 

 willing to undergo more hardships and dangers. 



These two Beloochi, accompanied by ten men, came 

 from Njemps, a country lying to the south of Lake 

 Baringo. They were, so they said, but a part of a 

 very large caravan which had left Mombasa eighteen 

 months before, the major portion of which had pro- 

 ceeded along the left bank of Lake Rudolph in search 

 of ivory ; but that no reports had been received from 

 them during the past nine months. They said that 

 the famine at Njemps had forced them to come all the 



