246 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



ing 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 advanced 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 'Ndo- 

 robo 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 crops. To 

 the 'Ndorobo, and to them alone, the vast, thick forest was 

 an open book; without their aid as guides both Cuning- 

 hame and our own gun-bearers were at fault, and found 

 their way around with great difficulty and slowness. The 

 bush people had nothing in the way of clothing save a blan- 

 ket over the shoulders, but wore the usual paint and grease 

 and ornaments; each carried a spear which might have a 

 long and narrow, or short and broad blade; two of them 

 wore head-dresses of tripe skull-caps made from the in- 

 side of a sheep's stomach. 



For two days after reaching our camp in the open glade 

 on the mountain side it rained. We were glad of this, be- 

 cause it meant that the elephants would not be in the bam- 

 boos, and Cuninghame and the 'Ndorobo went off to hunt 

 for fresh signs. Cuninghame is as skilful an elephant 

 hunter as can be found in Africa, and is one of the very 

 few white men able to help even the wild bushmen at their 

 work. By the afternoon of the second day they were fairly 

 well satisfied as to the whereabouts of the quarry. 



The following morning a fine rain was still falling when 



