NZOIA PLATEAU AND ITS TRIBES 223 



attacked in midstream by a crocodile, when the mother 

 quickly seized the loathly brute with her trunk and fairly 

 hurled it through the air, far up on the bank. What a 

 scene that would have been! One evening near the sources 

 of the Turquell river, excitement was caused in our party 

 by the arrival of a dozen slim, tall, well formed Karamojo 

 warriors. They had heard our shots, they said, and as they 

 were out after elephants themselves, and had failed to kill, 

 they came to us and hoped we would give them some meat. 

 One spoke good Swahili and we were all soon on a friendly 

 footing. At first our N'dorobo and Massai were evidently 

 distrustful of the strangers: they drew H. aside and said, 

 "they were lying, that they were not hunting, but were a 

 war party trying to pick up a few Nandi N'dorobo, or some 

 of their own people." Afterward we found that our 

 men's surmise was quite correct, and that the small parties 

 of trackers we had sent out to look for elephant had had a 

 very narrow escape. Had they fallen across our new 

 acquaintances they would have been promptly speared. 

 H. indeed had advised his friends to carry, when they went 

 out, one of our guns. This would have at once marked 

 them as belonging to a white man's sefari, and would have 

 insured their safety. They laughed at the idea of any 

 Karamojo raiding so far from home. The recklessness of 

 the East African is extraordinary and on this occasion came 

 near costing them dear. The Karamojo are a powerful 

 tribe living chiefly on their herds, living in complete igno- 

 rance and independence of English rule. Their bitter 

 enemies are the Turkana whose country lies on the eastern 

 side of the Suk mountains and between these tribes the Suk, 

 friendly to both, act as peacemakers; Suk Turkana in part 

 pay hut tax. We travelled for several days, going hard, in 

 order to visit the Karamojo village. Our friends evidently 

 wanted us to come and, owing to their hospitality no doubt, 

 declared the distance to be less than it was, and the road 



