38 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



advent of the Masai these plains were uninhabited by human beings, for in all 

 likelihood any inhabitants of this country before their advent were bush-duellers, to 

 whom cattle were unknown. It is unlikely, then, that even their hunters visited the 

 plains ; for armed with such short-ranged weapons as bows and clubs they would 

 have found the bush a more suitable hunting-ground. To this probable state of 

 affairs in the past I attribute the extraordinary tameness of the plain-dwelling animals 

 which remains even to-day in spite of about a quarter of a century's rifle practice 

 by pioneers and sportsmen. The game have, however, learnt to keep more or less 

 out of range of the white man, but the Masai they often allow to pass them at 

 fifty or one hundred yards. One of the most numerous tribes in the Protectorate, 

 the Kikuyu, an agricultural people whose land borders on the plains, also possess 

 the peculiarity of touching no game meat. These people also hardly concern 

 themselves with the game at all. 



Numbers of both the Masai and Kikuyu tribes, it is true, take to a hunting life, 

 the former driven by loss of stock and cattle sickness, and the latter by poorness of 

 crops and famine. It is noticeable, however, that both these peoples, when so 

 compelled by hunger to take to a hunting life, as a rule take up their abode in bush 

 and forests and do not visit the plains. Even their traps are set and game pits dug 

 entirely in the latter country, and they appear to leave the plains animals absolutely 

 unmolested. 



It thus seems likely that this custom has always been followed by the bushmen 

 and hunters of these parts in ancient times, so that the game of the plains have 

 always been left in peace by human beings. No wonder, then, that they are 

 peculiarly unsuspicious and guileless. 



In the bush and forest, however, a very different state of things exists. For in 

 the bush even at the present day live several tribes, some of whom are professional 

 hunters, and others occasional hunters. It is also more than likely that from time 

 immemorial hunters have lived in these localities. 



In Tanaland and Yubaland are found the Waboni, who live by hunting ; and 

 there are also a few almost unknown tribes who gain a livelihood by the same means. 

 They are what might be termed bush-hunters. 



In the forests is also found a race of professional hunters. These people, 

 generally known as Wandorobo, the Swahili form of their Masai name, call 

 themselves the Ogieg. They live in the thick forests of the Kikuyu and Mau 

 escarpments, and seldom emerge from them, living by hunting alone. The Ma.sai 

 who leave their pastoral life to become hunters join these people, and are 

 henceforward known also as Torobo (Wandorobo) or Ogieg. The Kikuyu who turn 



