BRITISH EAST AFRICA 193 



good grade Merino sheep country ; but the Masai country is not 

 available, and I did not see the other districts, where reports 

 say Merinos would thrive — at any rate the area is limited. 



' ' The Merinos require drenching fairly f requ?ntly for wire and 

 tape worm, and are all dipped, but looked very well indeed at 

 the time of my visit. 



"The settlers are keen on getting grade bulls for crossing with 

 the native cattle, and give £50 and over for bulls that few Aus- 

 tralian breeders would look at, whilst purebred Shorthorns of 

 quite moderate grade would realise 60 to 90 guineas. Unfor- 

 tunately, I did not see Lord Delamere's herd, but I understand 

 it is of a high grade, but several of the more enterprising settlers 

 are getting quite nice herds of pure and grade cattle that seem 

 to do well on the natural pasturage. 



"What appealed to me in shooting through the large Masai 

 reserve in the Southern Guaso Nyiro, and seeing the very large 

 herds held by that tribe, was that it would be well worth a 

 settler's energies to get a pick of the native ]\Iasai cattle, select 

 a good l)ull, and then start and improve that breed. There is 

 plenty of room for it, and one is encouraged in this, as, were one 

 to select, say, the top 20 per cent, out of the huge herds held by 

 the Masai, one would have a lot of excellent animals of that 

 breed, valuable not only as beef oxen, but also as trek oxen. The 

 Masai, whilst sometimes using good bulls, frequently breed from 

 a bull because they fancy his colour, which is generally a freak, 

 such as a spotted black and white or one with some brindled 

 markings; whilst many of the dun-coloured, or reddish brown, 

 or fawn-coloured animals, are quite attractive, and would be 

 the type to maintain and improve. 



"Whilst the country has not yet got into its stride, and will 

 never be a country for large individual herds, it undoubtedly 

 holds great possibilities of quick advancement for the young 

 man who can keep away from the Nairobi and Nakura bars, and 

 will be content to put in some good solid work in making a home 

 for himself. Formerly the diseases in the cattle were enough 

 to frighten the intended settler, but rinderpest, T was assured 

 by the Government expert, was readily held in check by inocu- 

 lation, M'hilst the dreaded East Coast l?ever is quite easily 

 stopped by dipping the cattle every three days for a period of 

 six months. For an Australian this seems a lot of work, but 

 as a settler with 300 to 400 head of cattle is looked upon as 

 having a large herd, the dipping takes the native herdsmen 



