-^ The Spell of the Elelescho 



understood them, we saw that the wild folk were quite 

 satisfied, and this was the main point. 



But what patience is required in trade of this kind ! A 

 white man could never develop such Oriental patience. 

 Again and again a tusk would be endlessly bargained over, 

 till at last, often after days of chaffering, it passed into the 

 possession of the caravan. The natives were of course 

 bent on getting the tusks, sooner or later, into the camp. 

 At the very outset they had sent in a most exact description 

 of them, and then envoys from the caravan had to go and 

 inspect them, often at a distance of several days' march 

 from the camp. 



Every day a great number of Masai warriors appeared 

 in the camp. Men belonging to many kraals, owners of 

 great herds of cattle, camped near the lake. There were 

 not infrequent skirmishes, especially at night time. The 

 young warriors, the Moran, made attempts at plunder, and 

 were beaten off with broken heads. But, on the whole, 

 this hardly disturbed the good understanding. " It is their 

 testuri (custom)," thought the experienced and fatalistic 

 coast folk, and they accepted it as an unavoidable incident 

 of the trade. But festivals were also arranged, with dance 

 and song. In the still moonlit nights the strange chant 

 rang out in a high treble far over the plain, and sounded 

 in the rocky hills, and festivity and rejoicing reigned among 

 the warriors, the girls, and the women. 



But by day one saw their busy life displayed, all the 

 bucolic poetry of grazing herds of cattle with their spear- 

 armed herdsmen. There was a great deal to be done, and 

 in each and every task the Masai girls and women showed 



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