MY FIRST LION 49 



We were camped on the North N'Guasso 

 Nyero River, in what is known as the Sotik 

 country of British East Africa. About three 

 miles away was a Masai kraal, or village, a 

 circular enclosure of thorn brush against the 

 inside wall of which was a row of mud-daubed 

 huts. 



The Masai are a pastoral people correspond- 

 ing to the Navajo Indians of our own Southwest. 

 They abhor work of any kind and subsist en- 

 tirely upon their droves of sheep and goats and 

 their herds of humpbacked cattle. Because of 

 the presence of lions, leopards, and hyenas, the 

 Masai keep their cattle inside the kraals at 

 night; during the day they drive them out to 

 feed, under guard of half -naked youths armed 

 with spears or bows and arrows. 



Hardly a day passed that large herds of stock 

 were not driven to water near our camp; the 

 herdboys paid us visits and watched us work. 

 We came to know some of them well and, as they 

 were quiet and orderly and did not beg for 

 everything they saw, we rather enjoyed their 

 company. 



Lions were plentiful in the region. One day 

 a Masai, who had been frightfully bitten and 



