THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 55 



questions. Their ear ornaments are cylinders of red 

 clay, polished, in which have been imbedded scraps of 

 bright wire. The whole is moulded around the lower 

 periphery of the stretched lobe, and so can never be re- 

 moved without breaking. The bows are short and 

 powerful, the arrows broadly headed, and with the poison 

 smeared in hack of the head. They told us they ap- 

 proached game by feeding flocks of sheep and goats 

 toward the quarry, accompanying the flocks on all fours. 

 Their dams they use for irrigation; and later we found 

 an elaborate system of checks and ditches with wicker 

 and earth gates. In their fields they raise rape, beans, 

 and tobacco beside a sort of sweet potato and a veg- 

 etable somewhat like squash. In times past they have 

 been victims of slave raiders from Tabora and Ikoma, 

 and have been much attacked by the Masai; hence they 

 build high up the mountain whence they descend to 

 their fields, and whither every drop of water is carried 

 in gourds! 



We told them slave days were over and the Masai 

 moved away; why did not they build now in a more 

 convenient place? They shook their heads. After 

 all, what is ten years of peace after two hundred of 

 war? 



There is another village three days to the south; and 

 one four hours to the west; that is the whole remnant of 

 the tribe. 



We engaged two to guide us to Lake Natron at an 



