ARRIVAL AT TAVETA. 
75 
of iron to be found in these mountains, and that out of 
it the natives make their knives, spearheads, and chain 
ornaments, but as we never visited them, though we 
were several times quite close, I cannot vouch for the 
truth of this statement. 
At about io a.m. I heard a succession of shots a long 
way off to my right, from which I rightly gathered that 
the caravan had now arrived at the entrance to the 
forest, and were firing the customary salute; a few 
minutes afterwards a large herd of mpallah, no doubt 
startled by the reports, came bounding past me through 
the bush about forty yards off', but unfortunately there 
was no buck amongst them. They were immediately 
followed by a herd of hartebeest, out of which I bagged 
a fine cow. We then made for the Taveta track, which 
we struck after two hours’ wandering, the last hour 
taking us along the outskirts of the forest, through 
patches of tall coarse grass, dotted with dwarf and 
dhoom palms. 
Shortly after reaching the track we entered the 
dense forest by a very narrow and tortuous path ; 
twenty minutes farther walk brought us to a strong 
palisade built up with logs and trunks of trees pene¬ 
trated by a small opening measuring about four feet 
by three. Once through this, we soon came upon the 
inhabited parts of the forest, as the interior has been 
cleared by the natives and cultivated. The track led 
through large plantations of bananas, and small plots 
of Indian corn, intersected by tiny rivulets of clear 
water, and before long we came upon children tending 
