TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 



*01 



Masai with stretching-stone 

 in ear 



From a photograph by J. A Idcn 

 Lor ing 



twice one accompanied us for some 



distance, grunting occasionally, while 



we kept the men closed. Once the 



porters were thrown into a panic by a 



succession of steam-engine-like snorts 



on our left, which announced the im- 

 mediate proximity of a rhino. They 



halted in a huddle while Tarlton 



and I ran forward and crouched to 



try to catch the great beast's loom 



against the sky-line; but it moved off. 



Four miles from camp was a Masai 



kraal, and we went toward this when 



we caught the gleam of the fires; for 



the porters were getting exhausted. 



The kraal was in shape a big oval, with a thick wall of 



thorn-bushes, eight feet high, the low huts standing just 



within this wall, while the cattle and sheep were crowded into 



small bomas in the centre. The 

 fires gleamed here and there 

 within, and as we approached 

 we heard the talking and laugh- 

 ing of men and women, and 

 the lowing and bleating of thr 

 pent-up herds and flocks. We 

 hailed loudly, explaining our 

 needs. At first they were very 

 suspicious. They told us we 

 could not bring the lion within, 

 because it would frighten the 

 cattle, but after some parley 

 consented to our building a fire 

 outside, and skinning the ani- 

 mal. They passed two brands 

 over the thorn fence, and our 

 men speedily kindled a blaze, 



A Masai woman and toto J . . 



a photograph b y KtrntitRoowtit and drew the lioness beside it. 



