238 THE MAN-EATERS OF TSAVO CHAP. 



constantly moving from place to place following the 

 game. Not long ago I saw a few of them in the 

 neighbourhood of the Eldama Ravine : but these 

 were more or less civilised, and the girls, who were 

 quite graceful, had abandoned the native undress 

 costume for flowing white robes. 



In the district from Nairobi to the Kedong 

 River, and in the Kenya Province, dwell the Wa 

 Kikuyu, who are similar to the Masai in build, but 

 not nearly so good-looking. Like the latter, they 

 use the spear and shield, though of a different 

 shape ; their principal weapon, however, is the bow 

 and poisoned arrow. They also frequently carry 

 a rudely made two-edged short sword in a sheath, 

 which is slung round the waist by a belt of raw 

 hide. Their front teeth are filed to a sharp point 

 in the same manner as those of nearly all the 

 other native tribes of East Africa, with the excep- 

 tion of the Masai. They live in little villages 

 composed of beehive huts and always situated in 

 the very thickest patches of forest that they can 

 find, and their cattle kraals are especially strongly 

 built and carefully hidden. On one occasion I 

 managed after a great deal of difficulty and crawling 

 on all-fours to make my way into one of these 

 kraals, and was much amazed to notice what labour 

 and ingenuity had been expended on its construc- 

 tion. Unlike the Masai, the Wa Kikuyu have a 



