248 



IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA 



CHAP. 



in some false hair so as to give his plait the requi- 

 site fashionable shape. The hair worn in this 

 fashion is called El Daigan, or the tail ; and it is 

 rather interesting to note that a range of mountains, 

 running to the north-west from Kenya, is called 

 El Daigan because it appears to come like a tail 

 from Mount Kenya, which forms the head. 



"he does not hesitate to weave in some 

 false hair." 



Before leaving Kampi ya Nyania Yangii I sent 

 out a number of men to gather a quantity of the 

 fibre plant (sanseviera), which grows abundantly in 

 the neighbourhood. I was rather short of rope, of 

 which a great deal is always required on safari, so 

 I set the porters to work and soon added several 

 hundred feet of most excellent stuff to my stock. 



