242 ELEPHANT HUNTING [ch. x 



very rarely they kill one with a kind of harpoon. The 

 'Ndorobo are doubtless in part descended from some 

 primitive bush people, but in part also derive their blood 

 from the more advanced tribes near which their wander- 

 ing families happen to liv^e ; and they grade into the 

 latter, by speech and through individuals wlio seem 

 to stand halfway between. Tims we liad with us 

 two INIasai 'Ndoiobo, true wild people, who spoke a 

 bastard Masai ; who had formerly hunted with Cuning- 

 hame, and who came to us because of their ancient 

 friendship with him. These shy woods creatures were 

 afraid to come to Neri by daylight, when we were 

 camped there, but after dark crept to Cuninghame's 

 tent. Cuninghame gave them two fine red blankets, 

 and put them to sleep in a little tent, keeping their 

 spears in his own tent, as a measure of precaution to 

 prevent their running away. The elder of the two, 

 he informed me, would certainly have a fit of hysterics 

 when we killed our elephant ! Cuninghame was also 

 joined by other old friends of former hunts, Kikuyu 

 'Ndorobo these, who spoke Kikuyu like the people who 

 cultivated the fields that covered the river bottoms and 

 hillsides of the adjoining open country, and who were, 

 indeed, merely outlying, forest-dwelling members of the 

 lowland tribes. In the deep woods we met one old 

 Dorobo, who had no connection with any more ad- \ 

 vanced tribe, whose sole belongings were his spear, skin 

 cloak, and fire-stick, and who lived purely on honey and 

 game ; unlike the bastard 'Ndorobo, he was ornamented 

 with neither paint nor grease. But the 'Ndorobo who 

 were our guides stood farther up in the social scale. 

 The men passed most of their time in the forest, but up 

 the mountain sides they had squalid huts on little 

 clearings, with shambas, where their wives raised scanty 



