CH. XI] A BORANI CARAVAN 279 
Africa. We were more than hospitably received by the 
Commissioner, Mr. Horne, who had been a cow-puncher 
in Wyoming for seven years, so that naturally we had 
much in common. He had built the station himself, 
and had tamed the wild tribes around by mingled firm¬ 
ness and good treatment; and he was a mighty hunter, 
and helped us in every way. 
Here we met Kermit and Tarlton, and heard all 
about their hunt. They had been away from us for 
three weeks and a half, along the Guaso Nyero, and 
had enjoyed first-rate luck. Kermit had been particu¬ 
larly interested in a caravan they had met, consisting 
of wild spear-bearing Borani—people like Somalis— 
who were bringing down scores of camels and hundreds 
of small horses to sell at Nairobi. They had come from 
the North, near the outlying Abyssinian lands, and the 
caravan was commanded by an Arab of stately and 
courteous manners. Such an extensive caravan journey 
was rare in the old days before English rule; but one 
of the results of the “ Pax Europaica,” wherever it 
obtains in German, French, or English Africa, is a great 
increase of intercourse, commercial and social, among 
the different tribes, even where widely separated. This 
caravan had been followed by lions; and a day or two 
afterward Kermit and Tarlton ran into what were prob¬ 
ably these very lions. There were eleven of them—a 
male with a heavy mane, three lionesses, and seven cubs, 
some of them about half-grown. As Kermit and Tarl¬ 
ton galloped after them, the lion took the lead, the cubs 
coming in the middle, while the three lionesses loped 
along in the rear, guarding their young. The lion cared 
little for his wives and offspring, and gradually drew 
ahead of them, while the two horsemen, riding at full 
speed, made a wide detour round the others, in order to 
