XIII 
A SOJOURN AT RES HI A T AND KERE 
3i3 
explained, however, that, until the crops now ripening should 
be ready to gather, grain was scarce. 
In the meantime I had a hut built for myself and a shed 
to store my goods, food, etc., in. It was a great comfort to 
have a roof and walls, a bit more substantial than canvas, to 
shelter one and rest in ; for the weather was excessively hot 
notwithstanding that, being north of the line, it was now really 
the coolest time of year here. During this delay I sent some 
men back to Bumi to extract the tusks of my elephants, now 
loose through decay, and bury them in the kraal there. I 
never chop out ivory now, unless in a hurry, as that is a 
laborious process and the ivory is often chipped ; whereas in a 
few days natural decomposition causes the tusks to slip out 
without trouble and uninjured. 
One night at this time a hyena carried off and chewed up 
Mnyamiri’s powder-horn, which had been hanging from a bush 
right over its sleeping owner. His own account of it was that 
the “ fisi ” (as they call it) had intended to seize him, but had 
made a bad shot. The next day he offered up a goat in conse¬ 
quence, and went through a religious ceremony in connection 
with the sacrifice to protect him from wild beasts. I was 
pleased to accept a bit of the goat, as it was a meat famine 
with me at the time ; but I had my doubts as to the efficacy 
of exorcism against marauding animals. That night my own 
ration of beans was carried off from Feruzi’s (my cook’s) camp, 
and the bag containing it rent open by the “ fisi.” This might 
be, of course, because it was the portion of an unbeliever ; but 
unfortunately for the success of such an explanation, the 
following day a leopard chased a native cur out of the bush 
right up to and nearly over Mnyamiri himself, in broad day¬ 
light, nearly frightening him out of his senses. I myself heard 
the yelping, very suggestive of intense fear, made by the flying 
pariah. This additional proof of the boldness of the beasts 
here rather upset Mnyamiri’s confidence in his charm, and I 
think he almost regretted having grudged a bit of his goat as 
