220 THE LAND OF THE LION 
broken weapons. Gallant fellows anyway! The broken 
war gear was taken by the Kamasea to the nearest civil officer. 
The bows are very strong and well strung, and, poor as 
these Pukka N’dorobo are they will seldom part with their 
really good bows and arrows; the old and inferior weapons 
are not hard to buy. Each poisoned arrow is very neatly 
wrapped with skin tape, and kept so covered till needed. 
The arrows they use on their enemies are not tipped with 
steel, but have long iron wood unbarbed points. They 
are heavily poisoned, and are not nearly as carefully made, 
nor could they pierce nearly so far, as the heavier hunting 
arrow. I asked them why they did this. The reply was, 
they wanted many arrows to shoot at their enemies, and these 
were easily made, and less costly. There was no need in 
a man’s case for the heavy piercing heads. A prick was 
enough. I think I remember reading long ago (if I am 
mistaken I crave forgiveness for I am far from books of 
reference) that the Malay tribes who use the blow pipe and 
dip its tiny darts in deadly poison have strange customs 
which they jealously observe, when that poison has to be 
prepared.) These people most scrupulously continue to 
obey the customs their forefathers have handed down to 
them. A hunter must not make any poison, while with 
his family. For two days he must not eat meat or touch 
blood, and he must leave his hut and live alone in the forest. 
If these rules are neglected, the poison will have no power 
to kill. All the neighbour tribes to these Cherangang use 
the poison: Kamasea to the east, Maraquette to the north, 
and Elgao to the south. But the wild men say the poison 
these tribes use is not so strong, and, even when they trade 
it from themselves, it is apt to be old and so to lose much of 
its power. Certainly the Pukka N’dorobo’s instruments 
and archery are markedly superior. The arrows and bows 
made by the Nandi or the Massai are weak and inferior 
when compared with them. I am convinced that our 
