236 THE LAND OF THE LION 



asleep, and while I am asleep something speaks. It says, 

 'your cattle will die, you will find honey, the elephants are 

 coming/ I wake up, there is no one there who could 

 have spoken to me, it must be God." 



Then he turned to me and said, "We black men do not 

 know, but you white men know everything; what do you 

 think of God?" It was a sobering and most searching 

 question. When we were leaving them, without any request 

 made, the Morans and Laiock formed a column and broke 

 into a dancing song and dance. The chief's son, a fine youth 

 of whom the old man was evidently proud, was marshall 

 and leader. It was the finest, clearest song I have heard 

 in Africa, and they danced well. The first song was the song 

 to the women: 



"Oh women you need not fear, 

 'These are our friends, not enemies." 



The second to the birds: 



" Ab birds, you will not feed on men, 

 You may fly away. There is no war." 



Of the upper Cherangang N'dorobo I have already said 

 something. Their customs of circumcision, the high regard 

 for truth, the purity of the women, so far as strangers are con- 

 cerned, are identical with those of their neighbours, the Elgoa. 

 They have, however, little regard for the bodies of their 

 dead; and unless a man has gained great power among 

 them, they treat the corpse as all dead are treated, leaving 

 it to beast and bird. 



Simple, truthful and most lovable peoples these untouched 

 East Africans surely are. Where their customs are vicious, 

 where they err grossly, they do so innocently; they but 

 follow in the steps of those who have gone before. Perpetual 

 war they have been for ages accustomed to, and in 

 warfare they are ruthless, like all savage peoples, yet 

 they are far from cruel, and, as they have told me 

 again and again, except where a man seeks to purge himself 



