TAX-GA THERERS 



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bullied the porters, who were in a cringing state of terror, but 

 fortunately they were rather in awe of me. One of them stepped 

 up to the door of my tent and wanted to enter it. I asked in 

 a polite tone " El Moru ? " (Are you an elder ?), and when he 

 cheekily replied " El Moran " (Warrior), I kicked him away 

 from the tent and told him at once to leave the camp, an order 

 which the other Masai made him obey. At last, to our intense 

 relief, Omari and the men with the donkeys came in, and a 

 temporising policy was no longer necessary. I ordered two 

 El-Moran to go and fetch some of the elders, as I wanted a 

 " shauri." Two elders came at the head of a powerful body of 

 El-Moran, and the shauri began. I could see that the idea of 

 stopping at Naivasha for a week was absolutely impracticable ; 

 I therefore simply stated that I wanted to go through the 

 country on my way to Baringo. I asked for permission to rest 

 there for that night, to buy some firewood and water from the 

 women, and next morning to continue my march to the north. 

 The reply was short and emphatic. I was not to go through 

 their country ; I had no right to pitch my camp in it without 

 permission ; and I was to pack up at once and return by the 

 way I had come. Omari and the interpreter Ramathan both 

 looked as distressed as I was disappointed at this reply. 

 They begged for a peaceful answer, but I had been advised on 

 the coast that the right way to manage Masai was by " bluff" ; 

 so I replied that we were not going back, that we intended to stay 

 where we were for that night, and next morning march on to 

 Baringo ; and that we should leave it to them to decide whether 

 we were to be friends or foes. They then altered their tone, 

 and said I might go on if I paid them " hongo " — a kind of 

 toll for passage through their country, Hongo seems to me a 

 very fair tax, at least when a caravan uses the paths and wells 

 made by the natives ; I had therefore no a priori objection to 

 paying it. But the amount demanded exceeded my whole 

 stock of goods ; I therefore pointed to the stack of loads 

 and then to the men, who with rifles ready were standing 

 round the camp, and told the Masai that whatever hongo they 

 wanted, they had better come and take. They did not seem 

 to like the tone of the invitation, and left with threats as to 

 what would happen next day. 



As soon as the Masai had withdrawn we devoted all our 



