"To buy a sheep," said they.
For two months we had been shooting them all the game meat they
could eat, but on this occasion two days had intervened since the
last kill. If they had been on trading safari they would have had
no meat at all. A sheep cost six rupees in that country, and they
were getting but ten rupees a month as wages. In view of the
circumstances, and for their own good, we refused. Another man
once insisted on purchasing a cake of violet-scented soap for a
rupee. Their chief idea of a wild time in Nairobi, after return
from a long safari, is to SIT IN A CHAIR and drink tea. For this
they pay exorbitantly at the Somali so-called "hotels." It is a
strange sight. But then, I have seen cowboys off the range or
lumberjacks from the river do equally extravagant and foolish
things.
On the other hand they carry their loads well, they march
tremendously, they know their camp duties and they do them. Under
adverse circumstances they are good-natured. I remember C. and I,
being belated and lost in a driving rain. We wandered until
nearly midnight. The four or five men with us were loaded heavily
with the meat and trophy of a roan. Certainly they must have been
very tired; for only occasionally could we permit them to lay
down their loads. Most of the time we were actually groping, over
boulders, volcanic rocks, fallen trees and all sorts of
tribulation.
