Of Course We Inspected Their Loads To See
That They Were Not Required To Carry Too Much For Their Strength;
But, I Am Bound To Say, We Never Discovered An Attempt At
Overloading.
In fact, the toto brigade was treated very well
indeed.
M'ganga especially took great interest in their education
and welfare. One of my most vivid camp recollections is that of
M'ganga, very benign and didactic, seated on a chop box and
holding forth to a semicircle of totos squatted on the ground
before him. On reaching camp totos had several clearly defined
duties: they must pick out good places for their masters'
individual camps, they must procure cooking stones, they must
collect kindling wood and start fires, they must fill the
sufurias with water and set them over to boil. In the meantime,
their masters were attending to the pitching of the bwana's camp.
The rest of the time the toto played about quite happily, and did
light odd jobs, or watched most attentively while his master
showed him small details of a safari-boy's duty, or taught him
simple handicraft. Our boys seemed to take great pains with
their totos and to try hard to teach them.
Also at Meru we had acquired two cocks and four hens of the
ridiculously small native breed. These rode atop the loads: their
feet were tied to the cords and there they swayed and teetered
and balanced all day long, apparently quite happy and interested.
At each new camp site they were released and went scratching and
clucking around among the tents. They lent our temporary quarters
quite a settled air of domesticity. We named the cocks Gaston and
Alphonse and somehow it was rather fine, in the blackness before
dawn, to hear these little birds crowing stout-heartedly against
the great African wilderness. Neither Gaston, Alphonse nor any of
their harem were killed and eaten by their owners; but seemed
rather to fulfil the function of household pets.
Along the jungle track we met swarms of people coming in to the
post. One large native safari composed exclusively of women were
transporting loads of trade goods for the Indian trader. They
carried their burdens on their backs by means of a strap passing
over the top of the head; our own "tump line" method. The labour
seemed in no way to have dashed their spirits, for they grinned
at us, and joked merrily with our boys. Along the way, every once
in a while, we came upon people squatted down behind small stocks
of sugarcane, yams, bananas, and the like. With these our boys
did a brisk trade. Little paths led mysteriously into the jungle.
Down them came more savages to greet us. Everybody was most
friendly and cheerful, thanks to Horne's personal influence. Two
years before this same lot had been hostile. From every hidden
village came the headmen or chiefs. They all wanted to shake
hands-the ordinary citizen never dreamed of aspiring to that
honour-and they all spat carefully into their palms before they
did so.
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