In \Yildest Africa 



watering place for the da)- is a long way off, and that 

 the borders of the lake seem to me to be fever-haunted. 



A queer kind of shepherd, in truth, for these wild 

 herds ! I fear he would be very like a wolf, or rather 

 to be zoologically and geographically precise a leopard, 

 in sheep's clothing ! 



Again 1 was alone ; the disturber of my peace had not 

 frightened away the animals. So, as I was regaining 

 strength rapidly, I decided to halt here ior a few days. 

 This meant having to provide for oneself in the most 

 primitive way, for 1 was short of some of the most neces- 

 sary provisions and supplies. But in such conditions the 

 decision was not difficult to take. I shall not easily torget 

 the days I spent there. 



The plateau of the volcanic lakes Naiwasha, Elmenteita 

 and Xakuro, standing nearly 6,000 feet above the sea, 

 presents to the spectator all the austere, stern, and strange 

 charm peculiar to the Masai uplands. 



Some ten years have gone by since that expedition 

 of mine, and all is now changed. Up to that time only 

 the natives had lived in these districts. Few Europeans 

 had penetrated into these solitudes ; but now a track of 

 iron rails links the Indian Ocean with the Central African 

 lake basin, and the shrill whistle of the locomotive sounds 

 in the equatorial wilderness. Wherever the influence of 

 the railway extends, the Masai, whom I then learned to 

 know, have disappeared. Reservations have been assigned 

 to them, like the Indians of North America. 



My former companion on my travels, Alfred Kaiser, 

 describes, not without a certain feeling of sadness, how he 



40 



