I 
FIRST EXPEDITION FROM MOMBASA 
1 3 
reached was probably not more than about forty miles as the 
crow flies away from my main camp. Laiju is about east-north¬ 
east of Kenia (which, by the way, the natives here call Kilimara), 
and the direction we took was nearly due east—but slightly to 
the south by compass—from the former place. 
An old Ndorobo, to whom I had been introduced by 
Baikenda, and who, being too feeble to hunt, lived here 
generally as a sort of dependant of his—mainly on charity— 
had offered to show me where elephants were, within two or 
three days’ journey; and, as I was not yet in a position to 
start on a long trip, I gladly accepted his offer, in hopes of 
putting in a little of the time I was obliged to wait pleasantly 
and perhaps profitably. The Ndorobos, 1 of whom I shall have 
more to say later on, are a kind of degraded Masai, living on 
game, honey, etc., in the bush, something after the style of 
the South African bushmen, the grand object of their desires 
being elephants. They live a more or less nomadic life 
in small communities scattered over a wide extent of East 
Equatorial Africa, where no settled inhabitants are. The wild 
region from here northward to Lake Rudolph is left entirely 
to them. 
On my outward journey, although I saw plenty of game, 
I did not do more shooting than just to supply my men and 
self with meat, for which a zebra or two and one or two 
Grant’s gazelles sufficed. I will go more into details in 
describing our return journey, as it was then that I did most 
shooting. But first, touching the elephants. We had crossed 
several beautiful streams—the head waters of a considerable 
tributary of the Tana, which Chanler and Von Hohnel have 
called the Mackenzie River—and got into a pretty dry country 
beyond, where there was hardly any game. All the way the 
bush was more or less open and easy to walk through, as we 
1 I purposely refrain from using the Swahili form of plural, Wa-ndorobo, because it is 
no more correct than our own as applied to the Masai or Ndorobo language. I believe 
the proper plural to be Londorobo, but am not sure. 
