ON SAFARI 
XIV 
167 
bondage, but in past years slaves were important articles 
of trade. 
A safari is often organised for hunting purposes : 
then, in addition to the hunter, it will include native 
trackers, gunbearers, skinners, and men to assist in 
finding game, to drive it to the hunter if necessary, to 
follow it when wounded and act as retrievers when it is 
shot. In fact the trained natives take the place of 
sporting dogs in Europe, but they are more useful as they 
bear guns and carry the quarry to camp. These men 
also skin the animals and birds, and some are able 
to prepare the hides and skins for preservation. 
Sometimes a safari will be run merely for pleasure, 
much in the same way as a camping party or a picnic 
may be arranged in England, but there is no wayside 
or general store to furnish eggs, butter, milk, or bread 
when the caravan runs short of food. The chief object 
of concern to the headman is water, and in moving 
camp from one place to another, it is a prime necessity 
to select a spot where water exists. The length of a 
day’s journey when “ on safari ” is invariably determined 
by the locality of water holes and rivers. Every safari 
or caravan is armed, for in Eastern Ethiopia travellers 
are liable to be attacked by natives. Firearms are also 
required for protection against wild beasts, as well as 
to provide food for the porters. 
One of the objects of my visit was to obtain first¬ 
hand some knowledge of the country, the natives, the 
beasts, the birds, and the trees; therefore the safari 
was arranged to meet these intentions. It consisted of 
Dr. Comyns Berkeley, Mr. H. F. Henderson, and 
myself; two white hunters and my servant, accompanied 
by a headman and eighty natives. The composite 
character of this crowd may be inferred from the 
following list:— 
The headman and the gunbearers were Somalis : the 
tracker was an Ndorobo, the cook a Goanese, and the 
gkinner a Kikuyu man : the table boys and the syce 
