4 i 6 ON SOFARI IN SOT IK WILDERNESS AND LAKE NAIVASHA 
umbrella to them is a delight, though they are quite able to walk 
during the midday hours with bare heads under the tropical sun. Even 
a folded and faded umbrella serves the purpose, that of winning the 
admiration or the envy of their fellows. 
The route of the safari, or traveling excursion, is rarely a silent 
one. The jolly porters are fond of enlivening their way by blowing 
horns or whistles or beating on little tomtoms. At intervals they chant 
some savage ditty or repeat in unison some favorite word or phrase, 
often destitute of sense or meaning. 
At the head of the line, and at intervals along its course, march 
the askiris, or rifle-bearing soldiers, men mostly unable to hit a barn¬ 
door with a bullet, yet good for camp police duty. Next comes the 
head-man, bearing no burden, and carrying a dirty-white umbrella in 
his hand as his symbol of authority. After him is the flag-bearer, 
holding aloft the American flag—a banner which the porters view 
with respect and pride and not without awe. Next in the line is a man 
blowing on an antelope horn or beating an empty can as a drum. Then 
the long line of burden bearers in single file stretch out far over the 
plains. 
Their loads consist of tents, bedding, provisions, cooking utensils, 
etc., done up in packages and carried on head, back, or shoulder. 
Camping ground reached, the tents are quickly set up, water and fire¬ 
wood sought, and all made ready for the night’s rest. The tents are 
pitched in two long lines, the front one for sleeping purposes, the rear 
one containing the cook, provision, store, skinning, and other service 
tents. The scene at night is a picturesque one. Before each of the 
porters’ tents a little cooking fire may be seen, with pots and pans 
upon it, and here and there larger fires, surrounded by chatting groups 
of tired and hungry men. Before the tents of the whites marches an 
askari, rifle on shoulder, doing sentry duty. In fact, soon after Roose¬ 
velt and his comrades reached the camping place the porters might 
be seen coming, singing or chanting, into camp, the tents being put 
in place, the fires lit, the supper cooked, and all quickly looking as if 
the camp were a week old. 
During the period spent by the Roosevelt expedition in the hunt¬ 
ing grounds of West Africa various such excursions needed to be 
