XIV 
ox SAFARI—^AX EAST AFRICAN PHRASE SIGNIFYING A 
CARAVAN JOURNEY 
Apart from the Uganda Railway roads do not exist 
in Eastern Ethiopia : there are tracks made by the bare 
feet of the natives, Swahili porters, and by cattle. The 
native tracks from village to villao^e or to distant 
^ O O 
districts only permit the passage of man and beast. 
Wheeled vehicles for travelling purposes are non¬ 
existent. It is impossible to use horses on account of 
tsetse dies and ticks. 
A wlieel in the Rift Valley was formerly as big a 
novelty as a polar bear would be on the Victoria Xyanza. 
The pack animals for a long journey are Swahili 
porters. Consequently, in the days before the construc¬ 
tion of the railway, a journey to distant parts of the 
country was, and in many instances still is, a serious 
business. The traveller must take with him not only 
food, and often water, changes of raiment and other 
personal effects, but also tents, bedding, cooks, cooking- 
pans, and other requisites for preparing food; the 
quantity and character of the supplies will be regulated 
by the size and length of time occupied by the 
journey. 
When the safari is run for trading purposes, material 
for bartering with the natives must be carried; for 
example, beads and coloured cotton goods ; iron, brass, 
copper-wire, and things useful to the natives, and for 
which in return they will be willing to give food, tusks, 
and hides. East African natives are no longer sold into 
16 t) 
