NATIVES 



end. Some of them were very quaintly carved. 

 They hung in the trees like strange fruits. 



Now, however, after leaving the Isiola, we were 

 to quit the game country and for days travel among 

 the swarming millions of the jungle. 



A few preliminary, and entirely random obser- 

 vations may be permitted me by way of clearing the 

 ground for a conception of these people. These ob- 

 servations do not pretend to be ethnological, nor 

 even common logical. 



The first thing for an American to realize is that 

 our own negro population came mainly from the 

 West Coast, and differed utterly from these peoples 

 of the highlands in the East. Therefore one must 

 first of all get rid of the mental Image of our own 

 negro ''dressed up" in savage garb. Many of these 

 tribes are not negro at all — ■ the Somalls, the Nandi, 

 and the Masai, for example — while others belong 

 to the negroid and Nilotic races. Their colour is in 

 general cast more on the red-bronze than the black, 

 though the Kavlrondos and some others are black 

 enough. The texture of their skin Is very satiny 

 and wonderful. This perfection is probably due to 

 the constant anointing of the body with oils of va- 

 rious sorts. As a usual thing they are a fine lot 

 physically. The southern Masai will average be- 

 tween six and seven feet in height, and are almost 



211 



