TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 



185 



pleasant, by running streams of swift water; one was really 

 beautiful, in a grassy bend of a rapid little river, by huge 

 African yew-trees, with wooded cliffs in front. It was 

 cool, rainy weather, with overcast skies and misty morn- 

 ings, so that it seemed strangely unlike the tropics. The 

 country was alive with herds of Masai cattle, sheep, and 



Watering the oxen. Taking their last drink for three days 

 From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 



donkeys. The Masai, herdsmen by profession and war- 

 riors by preference, with their great spears and ox-hide 

 shields, were stalwart savages, and showed the mixture 

 of types common to this part of Africa, which is the edge 

 of an ethnic whirlpo6l. Some of them were of seemingly 

 pure negro type; others except in their black skjn had 

 little negro about them, their features being as clear-cut 

 as those of ebony Nilotic Arabs. They were dignified, 



