VII 
SECOND EXPEDITION 
43 
one is present While one member of the flock is chased, the 
rest stand in a ruck on the ground close by, gaping with 
craned necks in stupid amazement at the apparition, and may 
be mown down for the pot if needed and a shot-gun is used. 
I once killed thirteen in a few minutes out of a large flock, 
using nine cartridges. The first shot killed five on the ground, 
in the manner described ; the rest were picked off in ones and 
twos from the trees into which they had flown, and where they 
sat watching my little dog below. But except the very young 
ones, these handsome birds are not so good for the table as 
the common sort, though in size and appearance, with their 
light-blue breasts and pheasant-like tails, they surpass all the 
other members of the genus. 
After crossing and leaving the river, two or three days’ 
march takes us to the commencement of Ukambani, where we 
join our former path at Ikutha (the German mission). Up to 
this point (a fortnight’s journey) we had to depend upon what 
we had carried on donkeys from the coast ; but here food may 
be bought, and, through the kind assistance of my friend Mr. 
Sauberlich, we readily obtained a good supply. 
The first part of Ukambani on this route is but sparsely 
peopled, and the country is, except where cultivated, for the 
most part covered with bush and badly watered. As one 
travels northwards it rises and becomes more open and hilly, 
and a good deal of it is densely populated. Here we get 
among granite hills, bare of wood, and even firewood is scarce ; 
what bush there may in former times have been, having been 
used up. But water is now plentiful. The Wakamba are an 
enterprising, but unprepossessing, people. On our way up we 
had been constantly meeting large parties of them taking 
cattle, sheep, and goats, and an odd tusk or two of ivory for 
sale in Mombasa, or returning with the proceeds in the shape 
of goods. Though peaceable enough in their own country, 
they are inclined, when not themselves raided by the Masai, 
to harass their weaker neighbours. 
