174 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



the noble was, distinguishing him from all the 

 other great lords, each of whom also had his 

 own especial tune. My men strode at my back 

 when I approached the rest-houses that were 

 made ready for me, as we walked from one to 

 the other of the two Nyanzas; palm-thatched 

 rest-houses before which the musicians of the 

 local chiefs received me with drum-beat, and 

 the hollow booming of bamboos, and rattling 

 of gourds, and the clashing of metal on metal, 

 and the twanging of instruments of many 

 strings. They accompanied me to the rings of 

 square huts, plastered with cow-dung, where the 

 Masai herdsmen dwelt, guarding their cattle, 

 goats, and wire-haired sheep; and to the no- 

 mad camps of the camel-owning Samburu, on 

 thorn-covered flats from which we looked south- 

 ward toward the mighty equatorial snow peak 

 of Kenia. They stood with me to gaze at the 

 midnight dances of the Kikuyu. They followed 

 me among the villages of beehive huts in the 

 lands of the naked savages along the upper 

 Nile. 



Ali always, no matter how untoward the sur- 

 roundings, had things ready and comfortable 

 for me at night when I came in. My gun- 

 bearers trudged behind me all day long over the 

 plains where the heat haze danced, or through 



