852 



MASAI, TURKANA, SUK, NANDI, ETC. 



The Turkana and Suk must have been one people not many centuries 

 ago. They are certainly the result of a mingling between the Masai 

 stock (when the latter existed in the countries to the north of the 

 Karamojo) and a Nile Negro race, with perhaps a dash of the Bantu. 

 When the Masai moved away south-south-east from their original home, 

 skirting the coast-lands to the west of Lake Rudolf, they were followed 

 up by the Turkana-Suk, w T ho took their place, and who gradually drove 

 away the more or less pure-blooded Masai from any country to the west 

 of Lake Rudolf. It is possible that in the countries now r occupied by the 



477- SUK DANCING 



Turkana-Suk there were vestiges of the same Dwarf race remaining which 

 forms a marked element in the Anclorobo and Elgunono, and which 

 reappears in larger proportion in the population to the north of Lake 

 Stephanie. This dwarfish, flat-faced type may be related to the Bushmen 

 and Hottentots of South- West Africa. In spite of the tall stature of the 

 average Suk or Turkana, Count Teleki records having encountered several 

 individuals — elderly men — who were not more than 4 feet 8 inches in 

 height. 



To the west and south-west of Mount Elgon, practically isolated from 

 their Suk and Masai relations by surrounding Nilotic and Bantu tribes, are 



