A PLEA FOR THE NATIVE 375 



Kavorondo living by the great lake and the Kikuyu, hold- 

 ing the very rich, arable, forest-protected regions, to the 

 south of Mount Kenia, both seemed to me to be singularly 

 backward tribes. These latter specially had a low stan- 

 dard of morals and are generally spoken of as liars and 

 thieves. They seem to have adopted the vices of their 

 enemies, the Massai, without being able to emulate them in 

 military organization. The Wakamba, another large tribe 

 living east of Kikuyu country, and subsisting partly on their 

 herds, as well as by agriculture, have developed a tribal life 

 superior in some ways to that of their neighbours. In 

 appearance they differ, are taller, slenderer, and distinctly 

 lighter in colour, they have frequently the slanting eye of 

 the Mongolian type. They are a very brave and inde- 

 pendent race, are excellent hunters, and, so far as I could 

 learn, and I had many of them with me for months on 

 sefari, are more careful of their women and children. I 

 have known a Wakamba to take a long journey, and to 

 undergo great inconvenience in order to be with his little 

 wife during the time of her confinement. 



A superficial, if sympathetic, study of the interesting 

 group of tribes living on and near the beautiful uplands 

 of North East Africa was, of course, all that was possible 

 in my case. I moved among them, camped by their fire- 

 sides and chatted night after night to them, for more than 

 a year, during my two journeys through that country. I 

 tested their courage and tried their endurance, and as a 

 result I bade them good-bye with a sincere regret. I have 

 met among the crowd of sportsmen and emigrants whom 

 one comes across in Africa, some few men only who, not 

 wholly occupied with the pursuit of their own pleasure or 

 gain, have taken time to study the native. Such men, with- 

 out one exception, have a warm heart for the East African 

 and a more or less firm belief in his capacity for better- 

 ment. Still these men seldom write books, for they cannot 



