KAVIRONDO 71 



possession carved out of a rhino-horn. In his left hand he 

 carries a large oval shield, and in his right hand a spear. To 

 one or both of his ankles he ties a peculiar ornament made of 

 feathers, and on his head he wears a similar arrangement of 

 black ostrich feathers fastened to a leathern band which passes 

 round the forehead and occiput. The Masai sword has a 

 straight leather-covered hilt. The blade is narrow, but gradu- 

 ally gets broader towards the end, where it suddenly terminates 

 in a point. The weapon answers its purpose of slashing rather 

 than of piercing an enemy. The shields are made of bullock- 

 hide, and are ornamented with various patterns in white, red, 

 and black. The spear is very handsome, though somewhat 

 peculiar. The long double-edged blade is rather narrow, and 

 tapers to a point. To poise this unwieldy mass of metal, the 

 wooden shaft is almost entirely covered with iron ; only a few 

 inches of the wood are left uncovered about the middle, where 

 the hand grasps the spear. 



Two of these fierce warriors had darted in pursuit of the 

 two naked urchins who, turning round and finding them- 

 selves hard pressed, stopped running and held out entreating 

 hands to their pursuers. The Masai were jerking their spears 

 horizontally, with the peculiar thrusting movement used in 

 striking a victim Friends and foes stopped fighting to watch 

 this sudden side-act, as Trojans and Greeks may have paused 

 to watch Achilles pursuing Hector round the walls of Troy. 

 One of the Masai did not strike his captive, but, passing shield 

 and spear to one hand, he grasped the little boy with the 

 other, hoisted him on to his shoulder, and darted back to cur 

 ranks amidst the loud laughter of our savage allies. But the 

 other villain poised his spear and struck the poor trembling 

 child full in the chest. As the boy fell backwards in the grass, 

 the Masai gave one more lunge with his spear and then darted 

 back to where our friendlies stood ; and the battle instantly 

 raged with greater fury than before. It all happened within 

 a few seconds, and so quickly, that I had no time to put a bullet 

 through the murderer, though an intense desire to do so now 

 possessed me. 



I had already noticed some barbarities perpetrated on dead 

 bodies at the first village we captured, for the human wolves 

 which accompany every army had cut off a hand here and 

 there, in order more quickly to possess themselves of the 



