432 
THE GIANT ELAND 
[CH. XV 
nearly as freely as our East African safari, although they 
depended much on the man who beat the drum at the 
head of the marching column. The East African 
porters did every kind of work to an accompaniment of 
chanting. When, for instance, after camp was pitched, 
a detail of men was sent out for wood—the 46 wood 
safari ”—the men as they came back to camp with their 
loads never did anything so commonplace as each 
merely to deposit his burden at the proper spot. The 
first comers waited in the middle of the camp until all 
had assembled, and then marched in order to where the 
fire was to be made, all singing vigorously and stepping 
in time together. The leader, or chanty man, would 
call out 44 Kooni ” (wood), and all the others would hum 
in unison 44 Kooni telli ” (plenty of wood). 44 Kooni 55 
again came the shout of the chanty man, and the answer 
would be 44 Kooni.” 44 Kooni” from the chanty man, 
and this time all the rest would simply utter a long- 
drawn 44 Hum-m-m.” 44 Kooni ” again, and the answer 
would be 44 Kooni telli,” with strong emphasis on the 
44 telli.” Then, if they saw me, the chanty man might 
vary by shouting that the wood was for the Bwana 
Makuba; and so it would continue until the loads were 
thrown down. 
Often a man would improvise a song regarding any 
small incident which had just happened to him or a 
thought which had occurred to him. Drifting down 
the Nile to Nimule, Kermit and the three naturalists 
and sixty porters were packed in sardine fashion on one 
of the sail-boats. At nightfall one of the sailors, the 
helmsman, a Swahili from Mombasa, began to plan how 
he would write a letter to his people in Mombasa and 
give it to another sailor, a friend of his, who intended 
shortly to return thither. He crooned to himself as he 
