xix THROUGH SAMBURU LAND 247 



questions gave me a considerable amount of useful 

 information about his country and people. He was 

 full of curiosity as to why I had come into the 

 district, where I was going, what I intended to 

 do, &c. He seemed very much impressed with the 

 Union Jack, and appeared to understand in a vague 

 kind of way that this flag represented considerable 

 power. I found him most friendly and entertaining, 

 and, on the whole, I was very favourably impressed 

 with all the people I met belonging to his tribe. 



The Samburu are a nation of nomads, the more 

 wealthy among them possessing herds of camels, 

 which are invaluable to them in their wanderings 

 through the waterless nyika. They are supposed 

 to be a branch of the Masai, and speak the same 

 language, though they clip their syllables in a short 

 crisp way, quite different to the drawn-out Masai 

 intonation. Their peculiar habits and customs 

 resemble in a large measure those of their brethren 

 the Masai, although, unlike the latter, the warriors 

 do not live in a separate manyatta from that of 

 the Elders. They daub themselves freely with 

 grease and red clay, and the men braid their hair 

 into a broad flat plait which is copiously plastered 

 over with a reddish oily ochre, and hangs stiffly 

 down between their shoulders, tied up with bands 

 of sinewy tree-bark. Should a warrior find his 

 own locks insufficient he does not hesitate to weave 



