284 
IN AFRICA 
leathery-limbed old matrons, inclusive, were not 
above a feminine curiosity in things which doubt¬ 
less interested them, but didn’t concern them. The 
standing army of the Ketoshians sat around all day 
wearing out the grass and being frequently stum¬ 
bled over. 
If we asked a sultan if there were any elephants 
in the neighborhood it meant at least fifteen min¬ 
utes of loose conversation through a relay of inter¬ 
preters, with the final answer boiled down to a “no” 
in English. For a language that has only a few 
words like shauri, backsheesh, apana , and chukula 
the native lingo is a most elastic one. 
There were two or three things that we had come 
to Mount Elgon for and about which we desired 
information. The first was “elephants,” and we 
found, after hours of talk, that there was none in 
the vicinity. Secondly, we wanted to get food for 
our men, and thirdly, we wanted guides to take us 
up to the ancient cave-dwellings in the mountain 
and more guides to take us up to the top of the 
mountain itself. 
It seemed almost impossible to get satisfactory 
information upon either of the last two subjects. 
The natives didn’t want to part with their grain, 
while for their cattle they asked outrageous prices. 
We were almost tempted to boycott them by stop¬ 
ping eating meat for two months. They also 
seemed reluctant to let us have guides to take us up 
to the caves and none of them seemed to know the 
trails that led up into the forests and the heights of 
