MASAI, TURKAXA, SUK, NANDI, ETC. 841 



the down of the maraliou stork. A hair-cap is often stuck with ostrich 

 plumes, or may be further decorated with a huge pall of l)lack feathers. The 

 Karamojo are industrious agriculturists, and are peaceful people with a love 

 of commerce. They have l)een often harried in times past by the Turkana 

 on the east, the Nile tribes on the west, and outlying sections of the Nandi 

 on the south. Xot much is known about their customs, but they are said 

 to be similar in some respects to those of the Bantu Negroes, of which they 

 evidently form an outlying branch that has accepted from their conquerors 

 of Masai stock an early branch of the Masai language. 



To the east of Karamojo, in the soriiewhat arid countries along the 

 western coast-lands of Lake Kudolf, and thence south-west over high 

 mountains and hot valleys to the north end of Lake Baringo, extends the 

 distribution of the gigantic Tarkana-Suh people. The Turkana who 

 dwell to the west of Lake Kudolf are perhaps the tallest race living on 

 the globe's surface. The late Captain Wellby considered that in one 

 district the men presented an average of 7 feet in height. I met with 

 very tall men amongst the Suk, but I do not think the tallest exceeded 

 6 feet 6 inches. The colour of the skin in the Suk-Turkana group is 

 chocolate-brown. In their physiognomy they sometimes recall the jNIasai 

 very closely, but I ha\'e seen one or two examples with a cast of features 

 almost Caucasian. The hair of the head, though abundant, is altogether a 

 Negro's wool. On the whole, perhaps, their 'physical characteristics may, 

 together with their language, support the theory that the Turkana-Suk 

 group of Negroes are the outcome of a mixture between the JNIasai stock 

 (which is a blend between the Hamite and the Negro) and the Nilotic 

 peoples such as the Acholi and Dinka.* Li their original migration the 



* For the better iinderstanding of these shades of definition of the varying blends 

 of the Xegro with early Caucasian invaders of the iS'ile basin, I give the following 

 summary of my views : — 



A statement shoiving approximatehj the projMrtions of the earhj Caucasian element 

 in the negroid or Xegro races of East Central Africa. 



. . Proportion of White 



Xanie of Eace or Stock, an.l Con.pusition. (Caucasian) Blood. 



HiMA (Hamite, alUed to Gala, Somali, etc., Caucasian and original Xegro) A 



Masai-Latuka (Hima and Nilotic Xegro) i to ^ 



Suk-Turkaxa-Elgumi (Masai and perhaps Gala with Xilotic and Bantu) ^ 

 XiLOTio (a dash of Hima and Masai with muc-h original Xegro and a 



little Pygmy and Bushman blood) ^t 



Bantu (West African Xegro mainly, with a little absorption of Congo 

 Pygmy, and, on the east and south, Bushman, blood ; powerfully 

 modified by Hima [Hamitic] intermixture in many tribes) . . • tV to ^\ 

 West Afeicax Xegro j 



Pygmy - Original Xegro stocks ^one 



BusHMAX (Hottentot) J 



