246 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



deaths did not hinder the Masai from sending to him all 

 kinds of cases in which men or boys had met with acci- 

 dents. He attended to them all, and gained a high reputa- 

 tion with the tribe; when the case was serious the patient's 

 kinsfolk would usually present him with a sheep or war- 

 spear, or something else of value. He took a great fancy 

 to the Masai, as indeed all of us did. They are a fine, 

 manly set of savages, bold and independent in their bear- 

 ing. They never eat vegetables, subsisting exclusively on 

 milk, blood, and flesh ; and are remarkably hardy and 

 enduring. 



Kermit found a cave which had recently been the abode 

 of a party of 'Ndorobo, the wild hunter-savages of the 

 wilderness, who are more primitive in their ways of life 

 than any other tribes of this region. They live on honey 

 and the flesh of the wild beasts they kill; they are naked, 

 with few and rude arms and utensils; and, in short, carry 

 on existence as our own ancestors did at a very early period 

 of palaeolithic time. Around this cave were many bones. 

 Within it were beds of grass, and a small roofed enclosure of 

 thorn-bushes for the dogs. Fire sticks had been left on the 

 walls, to be ready when the owners' wanderings again 

 brought them back to the cave; and also very curious soup 

 sticks, each a rod with one of the vertebrae of some animal 

 stuck on the end, designed for use in stirring their boiled 

 meat. 



From our camp on the Guaso Nyero we trekked in a 

 little over four days to a point on Lake Naivasha where we 

 intended to spend some time. The first two days were easy 

 travelling, the porters not being pressed and there being 

 plenty of time in the afternoons to pitch camp comforta- 

 bly; then the wagons left us with their loads of hides and 

 skeletons and spare baggage. The third day we rose long 

 before dawn, breakfasted, broke camp, and were off just 

 at sunrise. There was no path; at one time we followed 

 game trails, at another the trails made by the Masai sheep 

 and cattle, and again we might make our own trail. We 



