xx IN QUEST OF THE BOUNDARY 257 



to be the distinctive peculiarity of the rhino of 

 these regions. 



My Samburu guide Papai walked beside me on 

 this march and entertained me with much useful 

 information, which he imparted to me through 

 Abbudi. I now for the first time discovered that he 

 had been born an Andorobo, and had spent all his 

 youth in the pursuit of game, as is the custom 

 of the men of that tribe. Sometimes, when he 

 found it almost impossible to make a living by 

 the chase, he attached himself to the Samburu or to 

 the Rendile. One day he fortunately killed two 

 fine elephants, and thus secured enough ivory to 

 purchase a Samburu maiden for a wife; in this 

 manner he finally settled down with his adopted 

 tribe, and had now, as he said, become a real 

 Samburu. He told me many stirring tales of 

 adventurous encounters with elephants and other 

 big game, and described to me a method fre- 

 quently adopted among the Wandorobo to strike 

 down a dangerous beast. A heavy block of 

 wood, thicker at one end than the other, is hewn 

 out of a hardwood tree, and into the heavier end of 

 this is driven an iron spike smeared over with 

 a deadly poison. A long thin rope made of fibre 

 is tied through a hole made in the other end of 

 the block, which is then suspended spear downward 

 from a convenient branch over the centre of an 



