ACROSS THE MAU ESCARPMENT 69 
Karamojo war party pushed down from the north and 
northwest to try their luck, or Turkana came from the 
northeast to steal anything they could lay hands on. In 
these never ceasing efforts to steal each others’ goats and 
cattle, a number of warriors of course lost their lives. But 
the East African native is a born fighter, whether he carries 
only a stick or goes armed with the great spear of the Massai, 
the longer, beautifully balanced weapon of the Karamojo 
and Elgao, or the quite as deadly bow and poisoned arrow 
of the N’dorobo. 
This sort of thing seems to afford these fighting tribes 
a pleasurable form of excitement, but, dangerous as it sounds, 
it in no way jeopardizes, any longer, the white man’s sefari. 
If you come across the path of a band of raiders, as I did 
twice, they will, in all probability, slip quietly by your camp 
fire, in the night, and next day you are surprised to see the 
unmistakable narrow winding trail, that only a long line 
of bare-footed men can make, winding, snakelike, through 
the heavy grass. 
I tested the climate of the plateau pretty thoroughly, 
and always found it delightful. The nights are refresh- 
ingly cool, though not nearly as cold as nights, spent on the 
uplands, crossed to reach it. The sun during the day is 
hot, but the glass never rose above 85° in the shade. 
And where there is deep shade, as under a thick tree, it is 
never too warm for comfort. ‘There are scarcely any flies, 
and very few mosquitoes or ticks. “Twice we came across 
deadly snakes, one a black and the other a vividly green 
cobra. Each was about five feet or five feet six inches long. 
There is also a very beautiful green tree snake, that is 
extraordinarily quick in its movements, and another which, 
to my ignorant eyes, differed in nothing from our own 
common black snake. These last two are constrictors, 
and, of course, harmless. The men are ever in mortal 
terror of all and every sort of snake. When I once caught 
