MY ESCAPE 191 



as far as possible on Australian lines. The sheep 

 — quite fair-looking Merinos, cutting a good 

 fleece — had been bred up from native stock with 

 Australian imported rams. The herd of cattle, 

 too, had also been bred up from native cows and 

 imported bulls, the first cross showing really 

 extraordinary improvements. My friend's fat 

 wethers were fetching nineteen shillings off shears 

 at that time, and the fat bullocks, quite decent- 

 looking beasts, going not far short of 700 lb., 

 £y 105. The owner, however, was not without 

 his troubles, for he had to contend against a good 

 deal of disease amongst his flock, besides the 

 worry of big herds of zebra eating his grass and 

 drinking at his troughs — a proof that the country 

 was still in its pioneering stage. He also had to 

 endure raids on his stock by predatory beasts, 

 some of them humans. My friend showed me his 

 yearly accounts, and it was amusing to notice 

 such an item as £3 bonus for trapping a Hon, and 

 the considerable expenditure for umbrellas for his 

 Masai herdsmen — who dislike their coiffures 

 getting wet. On my telling Cole one morning 

 that it was a good plan to cut the tips of bulls' 

 horns to prevent them seriously injuring one 

 another, he mentioned that the Masai themselves 

 acted on rather a different plan ; they sharpened 

 the horns of a favourite bull to enable him to 

 assert his superiority against his rivals for the 

 favour of the females, and by this means get a 

 bigger percentage of the calves. 



