CH. x] THE KIKUYU COUNTRY 231 



sing in the fields ; and water-ousels by the cold streams 

 of the Rockies, and canon wrens in their sheer gorges ; 

 when from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific wood- 

 tlu'ushes, veeries, rufous-backed thrushes, robins, blue- 

 birds, orioles, thrashers, cat-birds, house-finches, song- 

 sparrows — some in the East, some in the AVest, some 

 both P^ast and West — and many, many other singers 

 thrill the gardens at sunrise ; until the long days begin 

 to shorten, and tawny lilies burn by the roadside, and 

 the indigo buntings trill from the tops of little trees 

 throughout the hot afternoons. 



We were in the Ivikuyu country. On om* march we 

 met several parties of nati\es. I had been nuich in- 

 clined to pity the porters, who had but one blanket 

 apiece ; but when I saw the Kikuyus, each with nothing 

 but a smaller blanket, and without the other clothing 

 and the tents of the porters, I realized how nnich better 

 off the latter were, simply because they were on a white 

 man's safari. At Neri Boma we were greeted with tlie 

 warmest hospitality by the District Commissioner, iNIr. 

 Browne. Among other things, he arranged a great 

 Kikuyu dance in our honour. Two thousand warriors 

 and many women came in, as well as a small party of 

 INIasai moran. The warriors were naked, or hall^naked ; 

 some carried gaudy blankets, others girdles of leopard 

 skin ; their ox-hide shields were coloured in bold 

 patterns, their long-bladed spears quivered and gleamed. 

 Their ftices and legs were painted red and yellow ; the 

 faces of the young men who were about to undergo the 

 rite of circumcision were stained a ghastly white and 

 their bodies fantastically painted. The warriors wore 

 bead necklaces and waist-belts and armlets of brass and 

 steel, and spurred anklets of monkey skin. Some wore 

 head-dresses made out of a lion's mane or from the lonpf 



