MORE DESERTION. 
6 3 
excellent and very satisfying. We were offered an 
ostrich’s egg, but as it must have been laid out of season, 
it was declined with thanks. In the way of fruit we 
obtained pumpkins and cooking bananas of a yellow 
colour, which, properly stewed, were rather nice. The 
banana is the staple food of these natives, who mash 
and boil the unripe fruit, and thus produce a black 
compound which, however uninviting in appearance, is 
undoubtedly wholesome and nutritious. 
Seven men ran away last night, and, I expect, re¬ 
mained hiding at Ndara; they were mission men of 
course, as were nearly all who had deserted up to the 
present. We had been less watchful, thinking ourselves 
safe after reaching Maungu. This defection caused 
some inconvenience, for what with previous runaways 
and the sick left behind at Ndara, we were now short- 
handed, and had to leave some of our loads at this 
place and send back for them later on. Our present 
camp was situated about 2700 feet above the sea, and 
162 miles from Mombasa. 
December' 22nd .—We spent a quiet day, while the 
buying of food went on briskly and the camp was full 
of natives, especially women. These ladies, covered 
with rows of beads, brought the Indian corn in bags on 
their backs, suspended by a string from the forehead; 
they were a particularly ugly lot, and, excepting the 
very young girls, had breasts like tobacco pouches. 
The children, Avho accompanied their mothers, were 
all fat and quite naked, and scarcely less dirty than 
their parents. They were uninteresting visitors and 
