A MYSTERIOUS TRIBE 



in the Horn of Africa, but which have now completely 

 disappeared, leaving no trace except their name, and 

 a few cairns of stone. They told me there were 

 still many legends concerning them, but they had 

 disappeared long before the present inhabitants had 

 entered the country. They said that there were 

 many graves and many pools cut into the rock, which 

 were made by the Maanthinle, in northern Jubaland, 

 and that they thought that they had been a race of 

 giants. To my question as to what they imagined 

 had happened to them, they replied that it was 

 believed that these people had done evil and had 

 ceased to sacrifice to their god, at which the latter 

 was so displeased that he sent a plague of bees 

 which killed some and drove the rest out of the 

 country. 



They had by now quite forgotten the uneasiness 

 they had shown at the beginning of our interview, 

 and, stimulated perhaps by the "buni," they revealed 

 to me much that was interesting, and described their 

 daily life in detail, telling the story in their own way 

 with many a picturesque simile and many a quaint 

 but illuminating phrase. The sole weapon of these 

 hunters is a small bow, shooting arrows of which 

 the tips are covered with a powerful vegetable poison. 

 They will search for days, perhaps for weeks, until 

 they have discovered a water-hole or salt lick, where 

 their quarry comes regularly. Then with infinite 

 precaution on some moonlit night they make their 

 way to within a few feet of the trail by which the 

 elephant or rhinoceros is expected to approach the 

 water. Crouched under a bush they wait in breath- 

 less silence until some faint noise, inaudible perhaps 

 except to them, is heard above the whispering of 



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