542 
THE KILIMA NJARO EXPEDITION. 
gathered from among the bones of elephants who for 
centuries have died and died unnoticed in these un¬ 
travelled wilds, ivory is procured somehow and in such 
quantities—even with the absurdly inadequate means 
of exploitation and porterage—that there is always 
more than enough to supply the many native caravans 
led by Moslem natives from the coast, which annually 
traverse this country between the Indian Ocean and 
the Victoria Nyanza lake. Another item of trade 
should not be forgotten, namely, the valuable and 
handsome wild beast skins, which may either be pro¬ 
cured in the chase, or very cheaply purchased from 
the natives; A leopard skin may be bought for about 
two or three shillings’ worth of goods, and will sell on 
the coast for eight or nine. Lions’ skins are less easy 
to obtain from the natives, as that animal is rarely killed 
by them, but European sportsmen might shoot him to 
any extent, as he is both common and bold. Monkey 
skins-, of the handsome variety of white-tailed colobus, 
which is alone found in this region, are valuable, and 
fetch a good price on the coast. 
Ostriches are exceedingly numerous in the vicinity 
of Kilim a-njaro. When living at Taveita in the 
summer and autumn of 1884, I and my men used to 
largely subsist on their eggs, which were brought us 
in numbers by the natives, and sold for about a penny¬ 
worth of cloth each. Sometimes by searching we 
would ourselves discover nests. In the month of 
October I bought twelve young ostriches from the 
natives at the rate of an ell of cloth apiece. I could 
have purchased many more, and started an ostrich 
farm had I wished, but as I was returning shortly to 
the coast I did not feel disposed to commence the 
undertaking. I tried to bring these young ostriches 
