run to me, drooping their tails, and evincing every
indication of terror.
Once we had a little adventure with a group of
dog-faced baboons. We first heard them barking, and
finally came in sight of them, running along for all
the world like school children on a holiday. The
young ones were playing together, carefully watched by
their elders, who preserved the most staid demeanour.
Upon catching sight of them, the dogs rushed at the
band in a furious manner. The young ones fled, but
two or three old gentlemen with bushy whiskers and
benignant’ eyes seated themselves upon their hams,
and gazed unruffled at the enemy. The dogs dashed
on, but their barks became less determined, and their
steps more cautious as they neared, and realized the
dignity of the animals they were to attack. These
made no sign, but calmly awaited their charge. Having
reached a point within fifteen feet of them, the
courage of the dogs seemed to ooze rapidly from them.
Frightened perhaps by the steady and philosophic
stare with which the apes regarded them, they turned
tail, and with crestfallen manner retreated to the
caravan.
While marching along the Guaso Nyiro River, and
at a point near the ford, we fell in with a party of
ioo Wanderobbo, who were encamped on the opposite
bank. Among them we were pleased to find our old
friend, Mayolo. He was fat, healthy, delighted to see
us, and a father. His wife had presented him with-
a bouncing boy, and the presents we had given him
permitted him to assume a position of great importance
in his village. He said that after he had left Lieutenant
von Hohnel at Seran, having no food or water,
he wandered five whole days, until at length he fell
in with his people. While on his journey, he had
found water in holes; but food he had none, with the
exception of a few berries which he picked from
bushes on the desert.
At this point we rested one day, and there I watched
a party of Wanderobbo hunters preparing to set out
in search of meat. They had with them two donkeys,
one of which they had painted with white stripes,
in order to have it resemble a zebra. T o t h e head
of the other donkey they had affixed a pair of oryx
horns, as a decoy for oryx beisa, in case they fell in
with any. Before starting, all the hunters took a dip
in the river, and then smeared their wet bodies with
mud and sand, in order to give themselves as much
as possible the colour of the earth. They must be
excellent hunters. I learned from my experiences
that the game in that part of the country was very
shy, owing to the continued hunting of the Wanderobbo;
yet, notwithstanding this shyness of game,
they were able to get close enough to an antelope
to kill it with one of their small arrows.
We had but one other event before reaching Daitcho
of sufficient interest to relate. A ftlr marching a long
distance, we had camped near one of the small affluents
of the Mackenzie River. As darkness had set
in before we reached camp, we were unable to build a
zeriba of any sort, and for the first half-hour or so
all the men were busied gathering • wood for fires.
Just as the fires were made, and Lieutenant von
Hohnel’s tent was pitched, two lions began to roar