18 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
hind were the tents of the two hundred porters, the gun- 
bearers, the tent boys, the askaris or native soldiers, and 
the horse boys or saises. In front of the tents stood the 
men in two lines; the first containing the fifteen askaris, 
the second the porters with their head men. The askaris 
were uniformed, each in a red fez, a blue blouse, and white 
knickerbockers, and each carrying his rifle and belt. The 
porters were chosen from several different tribes or races 
to minimize the danger of combination in the event of 
mutiny. 
Here and there in East Africa one can utilize ox wagons, 
or pack trains of donkeys; but for a considerable expedition 
it is still best to use a safari of native porters, of the type 
by which the commerce and exploration of the country have 
always been carried on. The backbone of such a safari is 
generally composed of Swahili, the coast men, negroes who 
have acquired the Moslem religion, together with a partially 
Arabicized tongue and a strain of Arab blood from the 
Arab warriors and traders who have been dominant in the 
coast towns for so many centuries. It was these Swahili 
trading caravans, under Arab leadership, which, in their 
quest for ivory and slaves, trod out the routes which the 
early white explorers followed. Without their work as a 
preliminary the work of the white explorers could not have 
been done; and it was the Swahili porters themselves who 
rendered this work itself possible. To this day every hunter, 
trader, missionary, or explorer must use either a Swahili 
safari or one modelled on the Swahili basis. The part 
played by the white-topped ox wagon in the history of South 
Africa, and by the camel caravan in North Africa, has been 
played in middle Africa by the files of strong, patient. 
