208 AFRICA SPEAKS 



always considers his particular services worth more 

 than those of anyone else. 



The aged father of Ngetuny Siiya came to thank 

 me for my presents of money and other things to his 

 son. He was very proud of his boy and with fatherly 

 pride enumerated the many benefits which would 

 accrue on account of the opportunity I had given 

 the Lion's Claw. With the money he would buy 

 three wives and a few head of cattle, sheep, and goats. 

 He would have enough left to pay his hut tax for many 

 years and the position attained in the tribe by having 

 speared the b'on would place his whole clan in a favor- 

 able Hght, so that, all in all, it was a great event in 

 the history of this particular Nandi family. 



While he was discussing the price of wives, I did a 

 little rapid calculating and figured that these women 

 would cost his son about sixty-five dollars each, which 

 I befieve anybody will agree is very reasonable, 

 especially when it is considered that the first cost 

 is the last cost, as, thereafter, the wife not only 

 earns her own way but contributes to the riches of 

 her husband. 



As soon as I had regained my strength sufficiently 

 to go on safari, we bade good-by to all our friends at 

 Kapsabet and left for Eldoret. On the way down, 

 pishi informed me that he was a Nandi I Of course, 

 I knew he was not, but in spite of that, he insisted his 

 father had just died, leaving him two hundred head 

 of cattle, plenty of sheep and goats, and some almost 

 new wives and he wanted to remain there long enough 

 to get his new affairs into shape. This "father-dying" 

 business in Africa is parallel to our "grandmother" 

 story during the baseball season. Every year thou- 



