THE EAST AFRICAN CARAVAN. 343 



and the halts, and though they work they never work 

 without loud complaints and open discontent. Rations 

 are a perpetual source of heart-burning: stinted at 

 home to a daily mess of grain-porridge, the porters on 

 the' line of march devote, in places where they can pre- 

 sume, all their ingenuity to extort as much food as 

 possible from their employers. At times they are 

 seized with a furore for meat. When a bullock is 

 slaughtered, the Kirangozi or guide claims the head, 

 leaving the breast and loin to the Mtongi or principal 

 proprietor, and the remainder is equally portioned 

 amongst the khambi or messes into which the gang 

 divides itself. As has been remarked, the Arab mer- 

 chant, next to the Persian, is the most luxurious 

 traveller in the East ; a veteran of the way, he well 

 knows the effects of protracted hardship and scarcity 

 upon a wayfarer's health. The European traveller, 

 however, will not enjoy the companionship of the Arab 

 caravan, which marches by instinct rather than by 

 reason. It begins by dawdling over the preliminaries; 

 it then pushes hurriedly onwards till arrested by epi- 

 demic or desertion ; and finally it lingers over the end 

 of the journey, thus loosing time twice. This style of 

 progress is fatal to observation ; moreover, none but a 

 special caravan, consisting of slaves hired for the pur- 

 pose in the island of Zanzibar or on the coast, and 

 accompanied by their own Ahbab or patron — without 

 whom they will obey no employer, however generous 

 or energetic — will enable the explorer to strike into an 

 unbeaten path, or to progress a few miles beyond the 

 terminus of a main trunk-road. The most enterprising 

 of porters will desert, leaving the caravan-leader like 

 a water-logged ship. 



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