To begin with, if I may bring them into the category of wild things, there were the natives of the country—who aided us tremendously during the campaign, and without whose aid it would have been well-nigh impossible for our columns to traverse the country. Broadly speaking, we had to deal with four distinct types of native—the Swahili-speaking tribes, the Kavirondos, the Kikuyus, and the Masai. The Swahili-speaking natives, whose tribes were numerous and included such fighting peoples as the Whahamba, Diruma, and Nandi, were most generally recruited from the coast areas; they were the most intelligent and adaptable natives in our service. Many of them made splendid Askaris, while as trained porters, for machine-guns, signalling sections, and stretcher-bearers, they were extremely useful, and many thousands were utilised for such work. Those natives were extraordinarily keen on their drills—in which they were daily instructed, whenever opportunity arose, to ensure combined movement without confusion, and quick obedience to orders—and it was a common thing to see them, after a parade had been dismissed, continue their drill within their own lines, under the direction of one of their enthusiastic headmen. They were simple, good-natured people, those blacks, and very easy to deal with if one took the trouble to understand them and their language, and ruled with a strong yet considerate hand. But they were unfortunate, and at a loss, when they came under the charge of strangers who had not had opportunity to understand them or their language—which often occurred, owing to loss of experienced men through sickness or casualties, and their replacement by men freshly arrived in the country. When we entered German territory many Swahili natives, of the inhabited districts we passed through, were hired by all ranks as personal servants, and thenceforth became followers of the column. Those were usually boys of from fifteen years to twenty-five years. They subsisted on any kind of diet, and often foraged for scraps in camp and for fruits in the bush, with much of the instinct of animals. Those who were ignorant were taught to cook, and to do the many little duties of body-servant; and were a great boon to trek-tired men when camp was reached and they were available to cut grass for the bed on the ground, fetch water, kindle camp fires, and help in the cooking of food. The Kavirondos from the Lake District, and the Kikuyus from the Nairobi area, were used almost exclusively for carriers and camp cleaners, and were perhaps less intelligent than the average Swahili native, and of lower type. Nevertheless, some of them were very useful, and I have used picked men from both tribes as higher-grade machine-gun porters, and found them come very close to the standard of the good Swahili.