^ The Spell of the Elelescho 



nothing to be seen of man, only something that evokes 

 conjectures as to his former presence. 



For suddenly from a height I notice a number of large 

 mounds, formed of stones, such as only the hand of man 

 could have built up. Under the secure protection of 

 these masses of rock — rough hillocks of heaped up stones — 

 men, who were once chiefs and elders of the Masai, sleep 

 their everlasting sleep. Their resting-places have been 

 so placed that they are not visible from any considerable 

 distance, but are hidden away in the hollows of the 

 ground. Out there in the wilderness, beneath the bright 

 blue sky, these simple old monuments speak to me most 

 impressively of the mighty harmony of everlasting change. 

 As chance will have it, I find not far from the graves a 

 human skull shining brightly in the sunlight and resting 

 on a projecting rock. It must have lain here very long, 

 as if keeping a look out on the old tomb of ol 'loiboni, 

 the departed "wizards" of the Masai. The empty eye- 

 holes stare at the ancient grave. 



But this symbol of the past is not obedient to the 

 spell of death that whispers here all night long, for it 

 has had to give shelter and protection to the rearing up 

 of new life. As my hand grasps the skull, now brittle 

 with decay, a family of mice takes to flight from inside 

 of it. They had set up their home in this bony palace, 

 and built their nest there. 



And as if the Masai, resting probably for centuries 

 under these heaps of stone, had left their herds to me, 

 once more there surges around me this sea of animals. 

 Near at hand they are sharply defined against the ground, 



35 



