ch. xii] NATIVE PORTERS 325 
it is an interesting beast, its back snow white and the rest 
of its body jet black. 
As on the Aberdares and the slopes of Kenia, the 
nights among these mountains were cold; sometimes 
so cold that I was glad to wear a mackinaw, a lumber¬ 
man’s jacket, which had been given me by Jack 
Greenway, and which I certainly never expected to 
wear in Africa. 
The porters always minded cold, especially if there 
was rain, and I was glad to get them to the Uasin 
Gishu, where the nights were merely cool enough to 
make one appreciate blankets, while the days were 
never oppressively hot. Although the Swahilis have 
furnished the model for all East African safari work, 
and supply the lingua franca for the country, they no 
longer compose the bulk of the porters. Of our porters 
at this time about two-fifths were stalwart M’nuwezi 
from German East Africa, two-fifths were Wakamba, 
and the remainder Swahilis, with half a dozen Kavirondos 
and Kikuyus. The M’nuwezi are the strongest of all, 
and make excellent porters. They will often be as 
much as two or three years away from their homes ; for 
safari work is very attractive to the best type of natives, 
as they live much better than if travelling on their 
own account, and it offers almost the only way in which 
they can earn money. The most severe punishment 
that can be inflicted on a gun-bearer, tent-boy, sais, or 
porter is to dismiss him on such terms as to make it 
impossible for him again to be employed on a safari. 
In camp the men of each tribe group themselves to¬ 
gether in parties, each man sharing any unwonted 
delicacy with his cronies. 
Very rarely did we have to take such long marches 
as to exhaust our strapping burden-bearers. Usually 
