SEEKING ROMANTIC ADVENTURES. 
69 
must give him are fixed. He must have a blanket, tent, and water- 
bottle from you, even if he is engaged for but a few weeks. He is 
supposed to be examined and passed as fit to work—by the medical 
officer. He ^^signs on’’ for so long a time with you, and at the end 
of that time, if he demands them, you must pay him his wages. You 
are supposed not to punish him, but hand him over, in case he mis¬ 
behaves, to the civil authorities. But as you are likely to be often 
more than a hundred miles from any court, a reasonable enforce¬ 
ment of discipline, when necessary, is expected from you, and not 
resented by him. 
So much about present safari life. Every would-be traveller 
soon learns. He knows his own amount of baggage. He knows it 
to the pound, and to his cost, if he pays his steamer bills at Mom¬ 
basa before coming up country, and a further interview with the 
railroad authorities on the question of baggage is likely to impress 
him still more. He reads in books or hears from friends that he 
will need so many men, and that he had better engage them at 
Nairobi rather than at Mombasa, and so save the $5 fare per man. 
That is about all he knows. 
PREPARING FOR A TRIP. 
He chooses his agent at Nairobi and seeks advice, says how 
long he intends to be out and what he wants to go and get; whether 
he will ride or walk; whether he is determined to go far afield and 
stay away from the railroad for several months at a time, or make 
shorter trips, moving his safari by rail from place to place. 
These matters settled, his agents undertake to do the rest, 
and promise in so many days to have everything ready for a start. 
Tell your agent at Nairobi that above all other things they must 
give you a really honest and reliable “head man.” Your head man 
will make you or mar you. The problem of potio is quite beyond 
even the most painstaking investigator at first. You will have to 
do as you are told, and get the hang of it soon as you can. 
At the beginning of safari life you will have to be guided by 
your head man. Show him your baggage. Tell him roughly what 
you wish to do and where to go. He, on his part, will tell you where 
