xxviii WE REACH THE MERU COUNTRY 340 



ill with fever and ulcers, for which I treated liiin to 

 the best of my ability. 



He now organised a tremendous ingoum (native 

 dance) in our honour. All the warriors in the 

 locality, to the number of about 500, turned up in 

 their war-paint and gathered in a field close by, 

 where apparently all such ceremonies were held. 



To begin with, the old Witch Doctor took a 

 small gourd filled with banana beer into the centre of 

 the circle of warriors, and made a most impassioned 

 speech, which was listened to with rapt attention 

 and punctuated every now and again with a chorus 

 of approval from the audience. At the conclusion of 

 the speech a piece of turf was dug up from the field, 

 the beer was placed in the hollow, and the Witch 

 Doctor, with a final peroration, smashed it to atoms 

 with his club, then jumped and stamped on it, finally 

 covering it over with the turf. The whole of this 

 performance, I presume, denoted death and ex- 

 tinction to all enemies of the tribe. 



The dance then commenced, and was a most 

 weird and wild affair. The Witch Doctor first took 

 the precaution of placing a guard around us, so that 

 none of the excited warriors might do us an injury 

 while in their half-frenzied state. The warriors, 

 decked out in their semi-Masai garb, and painted 

 hideously, then formed up in two companies in front 

 of us, one to our right and the other to our left. 



