VI 
RETURN TO MOMBASA 
135 
larger number indispensable, and have heard even two hundred 
spoken of as insufficient to ensure safety ; but in neither of the 
instances in which I had come to blows with natives, during the 
last trip, had I more than about the number above mentioned 
(between thirty and forty) with me. One can do a good deal 
with thirty-five good men armed with Sniders in Central Africa. 
Besides, I preferred the risk of hostilities to that of starvation ; 
and, as I had determined to reach Rudolph this time and knew 
the immense stretch of barren, foodless country I should have 
to pass through, but could not tell how long it might take to 
traverse, I felt it to be most important to keep the number of 
mouths to be fed in the wilderness within the narrowest 
possible limits. 
One of the first steps to be taken was to procure a fresh 
troop of good donkeys. For this purpose I sent Abdulla to 
the neighbourhood of Pangani, and he was successful in buying 
me a very useful lot. Another most important question was 
that of pack-saddles. On my former journey I had used a kind 
similar to those in vogue among gold prospectors in South 
Africa. I had noticed that Swahili donkeys always had sore 
backs, and blamed the method of packing. I now found that 
the Arab “ sogi,” which they use, is much better adapted to the 
purpose than any hard frame. It is a kind of soft panniers, 
resting on a large pad. Through the kindness of the officers 
of a steamer that happened to be undergoing repair in the 
port, I was able to get some canvas ones made ; and so well 
sewn and satisfactory were they that they lasted the whole trip, 
and returned, much patched, through damage caused by thorns 
and rocks, to the coast. I found that with proper care, and 
attention to the pads and the packing of the animals, there was 
no reason why they should get sore backs at all: mine never did. 
It is only the carelessness and want of feeling of Swahilis that 
causes these in their animals, through their neglect to take the 
trouble needed to keep the gear in proper order, added often 
to cruel overloading. I have witnessed the most revolting 
