272 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CHAP. 
country ahead, and told me there were plenty of elephants 
about the north end of the lake, though they had seen no signs 
of any along the shores in this direction. 
The man who had first come to meet us now said that he 
would like to turn back with me, as he had some trade goods 
left which he wanted to try to barter for ivory, though he had 
been obliged to come away, as the other members of the 
caravan would not wait. He said that if I would allow him 
and two or three of his assistants to join my caravan, and 
would supply them with food, of which, as well as the where¬ 
withal to buy more, they were short, he would guide me 
and assist me in every way in his power. To this I gladly 
agreed, thinking it a most happy stroke of good fortune to 
obtain such valuable help from a Swahili who knew the way 
and all about the natives in the country where we were going. 
Nor had I ever reason to regret my decision ; for Mnyamiri 
(such was his name) was of the greatest use to me both as 
guide and interpreter, being a proficient linguist in many 
African languages and thoroughly at home in Masai and its 
kindred dialects, which were the only means of communication 
we had with the tribes among whom we were going. 
It seemed an especially fortunate coincidence that I should 
have met with this man here, anxious to accompany me, just 
where we needed a guide, having reached a point whence we 
ought to strike across country, leaving the lake for a time, and 
make a short cut to Alia Bay. I took the opportunity of 
writing some letters to send to the coast by the returning 
caravan. I expected they would take months on the road, but 
knew they would get there some day and that the news of me 
would be welcome to my friends. I found out, in the course 
of conversation, that these traders had, on their up journey, 
taken the route to the eastward of Mount Nyiro, where they 
had suffered much from thirst, some of their donkeys perishing 
from want of water. On hearing that we had experienced no 
sufferings from that cause, they concluded that ours must be 
