NEW AFRICA. 91 



ornaments, and the men delight in elaborate head-dresses, made of 

 feathers and banded with ivory. They are laughing, merry people, live 

 in villages surrounded with aloe hedges, and usually surround the trav- 

 eler with curious looks and gestures, quite unconscious of their condi- 

 tion. Physically, they are bronze models for the artist and sculptor — 

 tall, symmetrically developed, gentle-mannered, peaceable, and, from 

 the most reliable accounts of European travelers, are chaste and moral. 

 Of course, the efforts of the new civilization has resulted in some cloth- 

 ing of the naked, albeit the majority still cling closely to the instinct of 

 their forefathers in the matter of dress, or no-dress. Apropos of dress 

 reform among the Kavirondo — the story is told on a good English lady 

 who, having been shocked at the sights she saw, stopped at Port Flor- 

 ence, the terminus of the railroad, long enough to purchase a huge 

 bundle of cloth of home manufacture. This she sent down to Kibisrori 

 for the purpose of being distributed among her dusky sisters; but what 

 was her disgust, on her return from a short stay at Entebbe, to find 

 that the aforesaid sisters had passed all the goods over to their husbands 

 and lovers, who were all adorned with beautiful fresh turbans. 



THE NANDI TRIBE. 



North of the Kavirondo was the Nandi tribe. It is an offshoot of the 

 Masai and, like the parent stock, its members are cattle fanciers and 

 warriors. On scenting danger from hostile tribes, or British soldiers, 

 it was their custom to make off into the forests and rocky gorges 

 marked by the Nandi escarpment, and securely hide their flocks and 

 herds before venturing forth themselves. Even then they did not come 

 into the open, but after they had posted their sentries on every com- 

 manding hilltop in the country, and learned from the answering shouts 

 the position and strength of the enemy, they were ready to commence 

 their ambushed warfare with poisoned arrows. They gave the builders 

 of the Uganda road some trouble; but more as thieves than as warriors. 

 When they first set eyes on the fine metal used in the tracks and tele- 

 graph, the savage love for ornamentation overcame all other desires — 

 even the desire to avenge the coming of the white man. For months 

 the progress and operation of the line toward the lake were seriously 

 impeded by their thefts of telegraph wire for bracelets and earrings and 

 railroad bolts for fancy spear heads. 



