358 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



to dig for water, that the false alarm of Posho ! (ra- 

 tions !) summons them with a wonderful alacrity. 

 Moreover, I remarked that when approaching their coun- 

 try and leaving ours — the coast— they became almost 

 unmanageable and vice versa as conditions changed. 



My companion and 1 pass our day as we best can, 

 sometimes in a bower of leafy branches, often under 

 a spreading tree, rarely in the flimsy tent. The usual 

 occupations are the diary and the sketchbook, added to 

 a little business. The cloth must be doled out, and the 

 porters must be persuaded, when rested, to search the 

 country for rations, otherwise — the morrow will be a 

 blank. When a bullock is killed one of us must be present. 

 The porters receive about a quarter of the meat, over 

 which they sit wrangling and screaming like hyamas, 

 till a fair division according to messes is arrived at. 

 Then, unless watched, some strong and daring hand will 

 suddenly break through the ring, snatch up half a dozen 

 portions and disappear at a speed defying pursuit ; 

 others will follow his example, with the clatter and 

 gesture of a troop of baboons, and the remainder will 

 retire as might be expected, grumbling and discon- 

 tented. Dinner at 4 p.m. breaks the neck of the day. 

 Provisions of some kind are mostly procurable, our diet, 

 however, varies from such common doings as the hard 

 holcus-scone, the tasteless bean-broth and the leathery 

 goat-steak, to fixings of delicate venison, fatted capon, 

 and young guinea-fowl or partridge, with " bread 

 sauce/' composed of bruised rice and milk. At first 

 the Goanese declined to cook " pretty food/' as pasties 

 and rissoles, on the plea that such things were impos- 

 sible upon the march ; they changed their minds when 

 warned that persistence in such theory might lead to a 

 ceremonious fustigation. Moreover, they used to serve 



