I
Of Course Assented To This Proposal, And In A Very
Few Minutes The Skin Had Been Neatly Taken Off,
And The Famishing Natives Began A Ravenous Meal
On The Raw Flesh.
Wild dogs are also very destructive, and often
caused great losses among our sheep and goats.
Many a night
Have I listened to these animals
hunting and harrying some poor creature of the
wilds round my camp; they never relinquish
a chase, and will attack anything, man or beast,
when really driven by hunger. I was at Tsavo
Station one day - unfortunately without my rifle -
when one of these dogs came up and stood
within about thirty yards of me. He was a
fine-looking beast, bigger than a collie, with
jet-black hair and a white-tipped bushy tail.
I was very sorry that I had not brought my
rifle, as I badly wanted a specimen and never
had another chance of obtaining one.
CHAPTER XI
THE SWAHILI AND OTHER NATIVE TRIBES
I have always been very keenly interested in
the different native races of Africa, and
consequently availed myself of every opportunity
of studying their manners and customs. I had
little scope for this at Tsavo, however, as the
district around us was practically uninhabited.
Still there was of course a good number of
Swahili among my workmen, together with a few
Wa Kamba, Wa N'yam Wezi, and others, so I
soon became more or less acquainted with the
habits of these tribes. The Swahili live principally
along the coast of British East Africa and at
Zanzibar. They are a mixed race, being the
descendants of Arab fathers and negro mothers.
Their name is derived from the Arabic word
suahil, coast; but it has also been said, by some
who have found them scarcely so guileless as
might have been expected, to be really a corruption
of the words sawa hili, that is, "those who
cheat all alike." However that may be, the men
are as a rule of splendid physique and well
qualified for the calling that the majority of
them follow, that of caravan porters. They are
a careless, light-hearted, improvident people, and
are very fond of all the good things of this
world, enjoying them thoroughly whenever they
get the chance. Their life is spent in journeying
to and from the interior, carrying heavy loads of
provisions and trade-goods on the one journey,
and returning with similar loads of ivory or
other products of the country. They are away
for many months at a time on these expeditions,
and consequently - as they cannot spend money
on the march - they have a goodly number of
rupees to draw on their return to Mombasa.
These generally disappear with wonderful rapidity,
and when no more fun can be bought, they join
another caravan and begin a new safari to the
Great Lakes, or even beyond. Many a time
have I watched them trudging along the old
caravan road which crossed the Tsavo at a
ford about half a mile from the railway station:
here a halt was always called, so that they might
wash and bathe in the cool waters of the river.
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