330 NA TIVES OF EASTERN BRITISH EAST AFRICA part hi 



I gave the elder a present of some wire, and insisted on his giving 

 me one of his arrows in exchange. When he knew I wanted it as a 

 keepsake and not for use, he took it back, and rapidly and adroitly 

 carved a rough design upon it with the head of another arrow (Fig. 

 20). I was delighted to see him do this, for skill in wood-carving 

 and love of design are very characteristic of these Negrillo 

 people. 



The elder left us at sunset, after arranging that some of 

 his people might travel under our escort to the Kikuyu 

 country to purchase food. I readily consented to this, 

 hoping on the journey to find out more about them. I 

 learnt, however, very little. They live in the recesses of 

 the forests in small families or clans, scattered over an 

 enormous extent of country. Their culture and habits are 

 quite primitive. The pottery they have they buy from the 

 Kikuyu, for they do not know how to make it. They do not 

 cultivate anything, but live on wild fruits, roots, and the 

 produce of the chase. They also collect honey and keep it 

 in bags made from skins. They do not fish, and have no 

 domesticated animals. Their only weapons are bows, arrows, 

 and knives. Their dress merely consists of loose sheets of 

 undressed skin, hung over the shoulders, but they are often 

 prettily ornamented by designs of beads. Their personal 

 ornaments are very simple, and they have none of the leg- 

 rattles or finger-guards of the Masai. Earrings are worn in 

 both the upper and lower lobes of the ear, and constitute 

 their most elaborate adornments. The young men each 

 had a " kipule " ^ formed of a string of ten white " pound- 

 beads." One of the women who came with us, who was not 

 a pure bred Doko, wore earrings in both lobes ; in the 

 upper was a string of red and white beads, from which hung 

 Doko'Arrow. ^ ^oop of iron chain, and from the lower a disc of coiled 

 brass rod two inches in diameter was suspended by a 

 leather belt. The elder of the clan had a pair of earrings, each made 

 of two brass knobs on the ends of a bent piece of brass rod bound 

 with iron wire. 



I did not discover in this tribe any trace of independent religious 

 ideas. Their term for God is that of the Masai, and the rite of blood- 

 brotherhood they have apparently acquired from the coast traders, for 

 they know it only by its Suahili name. 



My interpreter, Ramathan Aperti, who had spent some time among 

 the Wanderobbo of Rangatan Nyuki, on the western side of the Rift 

 Valley, said the tribe has a language of its own, though they always use 

 Masai when speaking to strangers. He said they would not allow any 



Fig. 20. 

 Ornamented 



1 The word means a dangling earring in the upper lobe; a " kipini " is a stud-like 

 ornament inserted in the same part. 



