356 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



mortar from which he stealthily abstracts the coffee. 

 The fireplaces are three stones or clods, placed trivet- 

 wise upon the ground, so that a draught may feed the 

 flame, they are far superior to the holes and trenches 

 of our camps and pic-nics. The tripod supports a small 

 black earthen pot, round which the khambi or little 

 knot of messmates perseveringly squat despite the 

 stinging sun. At home where they eat their own pro- 

 visions they content themselves with a slender meal of 

 flour and water once a day. But like Spaniards, Arabs, 

 and all abstemious races, they must " make up for lost 

 time." When provisions are supplied to them, they 

 are cooking and consuming as long as the material 

 remains ; the pot is in perpetual requisition, now filled 

 to be emptied, then refilled to be re-emptied. They will 

 devour in three days the rations provided for eight, 

 and then complain loudly that they are starved. To 

 leave a favourable impression upon their brains, I had a 

 measure nearly double that generally used, yet the per- 

 verse wretches pleading hunger, though they looked 

 like aldermen by the side of the lean bony anatomies 

 whom they met on the road, would desert whenever 

 met by a caravan. After a time there will, doubtless, 

 be a re-action ; when their beards whiten they will 

 indulge in the garrulity of age ; they will recount to 

 wondering youth the prodigality of the Muzungu, in 

 filling them with grain, even during the longest marches, 

 and they will compare his loads of cloth and beads with 

 the half dozen " shaggy " cows and the worn-out hoes, 

 the sole outfit for presents and provisions carried by 

 caravans of " Young Africa." If there be any delay in 

 serving out provisions, loud cries of Posho ! p'hamba ! 

 — rations ! food ! — resound through the camp ; yet 

 when fatigued, the porters will waste hours in apathetic 



