128 - THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 
For the rest, the Wa Taita are essentially a 
peace-loving and industrious people ; and, indeed, 
before the arrival of the British in the country, they 
hardly ever ventured down from their mountain 
fastnesses, owiNg to their dread of the warlike 
Masai. Each man has as many wives as he can 
afford to pay for in sheep or cattle; he provides 
each spouse with a separate establishment, but the 
family huts are clustered together, and as a rule all 
live in perfect harmony. The most curious custom 
of the tribe is the filing of the front teeth into sharp 
points, which gives the whole face a most peculiar 
and rather diabolical expression. As usual, their 
ideas of costume are rather primitive; the men 
sometimes wear a scrap of cloth round the loins, 
while the women content themselves with the same 
or with a short kilt. Both sexes adorn themselves 
with a great quantity of copper or iron wire coiled 
round their arms and legs, and smear their bodies 
all over with grease, the men adding red clay to the 
mixture. Many of the women also wear dozens of 
rows of beads, while their ears are hung with pieces 
of chain and other fantastic ornaments. The men 
always carry bows and poisoned arrows, as well as 
a seemve (a short, roughly-fashioned sword) hung on 
a leathern thong round the waist. A three-legged 
stool is also an important part of their equipment, 
and is slung on the shoulder when on the march. 
