CHAPTER XXXIII WITH THE BIG-GAME HUNTERS KENYA COLONY is in the land of big game, and Nairobi is the chief place where parties are fitted out for hunting. As I write this chapter several large parties are here preparing to go out ‘'on safari/’ as such hunts are called. The Norfolk Hotel is filled with hunters and behind it are scores of black, half-naked porters and tent boys, packing sporting goods into boxes, laying in provisions and arranging things for the march. There are headmen rounding up the porters and giving each his load. There are gunbearers seeing to the arms and ammunition, and there are the sportsmen themselves, some clad all in khaki, some wearing riding breeches and leggings, and all in thick helmets.

First in the normal personnel of a safari comes the head¬ man, who is supposed to be in full charge, except for the gunbearers and tent boy, who are personal servants and under the immediate direction of their masters. The askaris are armed soldiers to guard the camp at night and look after the porters on the route. There is one askari to every ten or twenty porters. The cook has a staff of assistants. Each sportsman’s tent boy must look after his tent and clothing and serve him at meals. The syces, or pony boys, look after the horses and equipment.

In the big yard upon which my hotel rooms look I can see piles of tusks, heads, horns, and skins brought in by