282 
TIIE KILIMA-NJABO EXPEDITION. 
had remained with ns, of course receiving pay for 
their employment. They always believed that we 
should return with them to their grasping Sultan, and 
I kept them in ignorance of my real plans, intending 
quietly to part company with them where our two 
roads diverged, and not forewarn them of my deter¬ 
mination to avail myself of another route back to Ta- 
veita. Together we started, therefore, when all had 
been made ready; and leaving our alpine settlement 
with its grassy slopes and forests of arboreal heaths, 
we took the path running eastwards round the upper 
slopes of the mountain. Descending a few hundred 
feet we found ourselves in comparatively dense and 
luxuriant forest, with a rich undergrowth, contrasting 
strongly with the bleak, grassy steppes only a trifle 
higher in altitude. Further on we arrived at the old 
camping-place of our former upward journey, at a 
height of 9000 feet. Here we remained to rest and 
eat our midday meal, gathering up our energies for 
the rather critical task that lay before us ; for, having 
resolved on no account to return to Maranu, we must 
now part company with the men who had hitherto 
led us, and, relying in future on our own powers of 
pathfinding, strike out an independent route to the 
desired goal. As my head-men were somewhat diffi¬ 
dent of their own qualities in 6<: fore-louping 55 (as the 
Boers call it in the south), I undertook to lead the 
caravan back to Taveita by compass and map. Ac¬ 
cordingly, little heeding the cries and mocking laughter 
of our guides, we started confidently along a faintly- 
marked path running eastward. At first all went 
well, but soon the path died away, and not daring to 
stop or hesitate, I plunged boldly into the trackless 
bush. The men followed meekly, but the absence of 
