124 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



The house boys and gun-bearers, and most of the boys 

 who took care of the horses, were Somalis, whereas the 

 cattle-keepers who tended the herds of cattle were Masai, 

 and the men and women who worked in the fields were 

 Kikuyus. The three races had nothing to do with one 

 another, and the few Indians had nothing to do with any of 

 them. The Kikuyus lived in their beehive huts scattered 

 in small groups; the Somalis all dwelt in their own little 

 village on one side of the farm; and half a mile off the 

 Masai dwelt in their village. Both the Somalis and Masai 

 were fine, daring fellows; the Somalis were Mohammedans 

 and horsemen; the Masai were cattle-herders, who did their 

 work as they did their fighting, on foot, and were wild 

 heathen of the most martial type. They looked carefully 

 after the cattle, and were delighted to join in the chase of 

 dangerous game, but regular work they thoroughly de- 

 spised. Sometimes when we had gathered a mass of Ki- 

 kuyus or of our own porters together to do some job, two or 

 three Masai would stroll up to look on with curiosity, sword 

 in belt and great spear in hand; their features were well cut, 

 their hair curiously plaited, and they had the erect carriage 

 and fearless bearing that naturally go with a soldierly race. 



Within the house, with its bedrooms and dining-room, 

 its library and drawing-room, and the cool, shaded veranda, 

 everything was so comfortable that it was hard to realize 

 that we were far in the interior of Africa and almost under 

 the equator. Our hostess was herself a good rider and 

 good shot, and had killed her lion; and both our host and 

 a friend who was staying with him, Mr. Bulpett, were not 

 merely mighty hunters who had bagged every important 

 variety of large and dangerous game, but were also ex- 

 plorers of note, whose travels had materially helped in 

 widening the area of our knowledge of what was once 

 the dark continent. 



Many birds sang in the garden, bulbuls, thrushes, and 

 warblers; and from the narrow fringe of dense woodland 

 along the edges of the rivers other birds called loudly, some 



