PURCHASES FROM THE MASAI 



III 



The next few days we spent in moving round the 

 lake and occasionally in going out on it. We had a 

 small punt which we carried with us for that purpose. 

 As I had had rather uncertain luck in my work whilst 

 we were on the move, I decided to look for a place 

 where we could make a permanent camp for a 

 week or so. 



We finally settled on a place on the Mandarat 

 River. Game seemed very plentiful round there, 

 there was a bigger variety of bird life, and we were 

 also close to the haunts of the hippos. 



The first night in the new camp we were favoured 

 by the company of Mr. Grigg, the Secretary of the 

 Boma Trading Company, who, having a few days 

 off, had come to spend them with us. Also, he was 

 wanting to buy native curios, and, as luck would have 

 it, I had struck up a kind of friendship with the chief 

 of the local Masai kraal, and through him had already 

 been able to buy a few spears and other curios for 

 myself. On Grigg telling me what he wanted I 

 dropped a hint to Ero, with the result that next 

 morning, almost before the sun was up, a crowd of 

 fifty or sixty fully armed Masai, together with a few 

 of their women and children, had assembled round 

 our tent. 



79 



