314 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
filling my pockets with it thought of gooseberry 
days. 
At 4 p.m., anxious to ascertain our whereabouts, 
the men were ordered to climb the trees for this 
purpose, and I ascended one myself. Kisigau rose 
directly before us in the west, while Kilibassi was due 
south. I could not see Kithima, but the men who 
were higher pointed a little to the left of Kisigau. It 
was evident that we should not reach Kithima to-day. 
At 5.30 p.m. we turned aside to a clump of rather 
greener trees than were to be seen elsewhere. Here 
we rested for the night, and anxious to be moving at 
early morn w^e did not pitch tent. 
Again we were astir before day, but our progress was 
arrested almost before we had started by the discovery 
of a bees' nest. We smoked the bees, and obtained a 
little honey, which was very acceptable. We were 
saluted here by the bird which, according to the fancy ' 
of the natives, calls " Charo ! Charo!" (traveller, or 
caravan,) and is considered a bird of good omen. At 
any rate, its cheery notes were welcome after the 
intense solitude of two days' march in the wilderness. 
A little ahead of this we came upon a troop of zebras, 
which Mgomba, anxious to use his weapon, frightened 
off by taking a wild shot at a wide range. Next the 
lofty heads of a number of giraffes w^ere seen above 
the bush in the foreground. They either saw or 
scented us immediately ; for now their heads, with 
the peculiar rocking-horse motion which characterizes 
these animals when in a gallop, were swiftly moving 
across the horizon, and now they were gone. These 
animals indicated the neighbourhood of water, though 
the country looked as dry as ever. We reached 
