212 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



covered huts surrounding the kraals in which the 

 cattle sleep at night. Their food consists of blood 

 and milk, with an occasional sheep or sickly ox 

 killed by the young El-Moran on special occasions.^ 



Their low huts are snug and warm, and are entered 

 by a small, low door near the ground, the window 

 being about two inches wide. Inside they are 

 absolutely dark on the brightest day, and usually 

 full of smoke from a stick-and-cow-dung fire. As 

 the Arctic tribes live almost exclusively on the 

 reindeer, so the Masai live on the products of their 

 animals, and the wealth of a man is coincidental 

 with the number of his herds. Money means 

 nothing to them, and their only purchases from 

 other tribes are brass and iron wire, iron for their 

 spears, and tobacco-snuff. 



In times of drought and disease, some of the 

 Masai are forced into the forest to join the ranks 

 of the Ogeig or N'dorobo, who are purely hunters 

 of the forest. The language of the last-named 

 tribe is somewhat similar to that of the Masai, so 

 they are supposed to have had a common origin, 

 although this is quite uncertain. At any rate they 

 are a handsome non-Bantu race, and may at some 

 remote date have come from the north. 



If there is one animal that is characteristic of the 

 Amala River and its environs it is the Pallah. From 

 here to the old German border it is very abundant, 

 and herds of two hundred were often seen. More- 

 over, in this part of Africa it grows, I think, to a 

 larger size than in any other district in the continent. 

 At any rate the average of the horns of males is 

 very large, and I secured some splendid specimens 



^ I noticed that the women were allowed to eat the offal 

 and remains after the young bucks had finished their meal. 



