126 
IN AFRICA 
small detachment of askaris, or native soldiers, who 
are necessary to enforce the law, repress any native 
uprising, and collect the hut tax of one dollar a year 
that is imposed upon each household in the district. 
Other names on the map may look important, 
but will prove to be only streams, or hills, or some 
landmarks that have been used by the surveyors to 
signify certain places. In our five weeks’ trip 
through Trans-Tanaland we found only two bomas , 
Fort Hall and Embo, and three or four ranches 
where one or more white men lived. In our expe¬ 
dition to Mount Elgon we encountered only two 
places where the mark of civilization showed—El- 
doma Ravine and Sergoi. In the former place the 
only white man was the subcommissioner, and in the 
latter there was one policeman, and a general store 
kept by a South African. A number of Boer set¬ 
tlers are scattered over the plateau, trying to re¬ 
claim little sections of land from its primitive state. 
Between Sergoi and Londiani, on the railroad, 
ninety miles south, there is one little store where 
caravans may buy food for porters and some of 
the simpler necessities that white men may require. 
All the rest of the country for thousands of square 
miles is given up to the lion and zebra and the vast 
herds of antelope that feed upon the rich grass of 
the plateau. 
Yet in spite of the sparsity of settlement the na¬ 
tive runner manages to find you, even after days 
of traveling, without compass or directions to aid 
him. 
