IV THE NDOROBO COUNTRY 91 



too far off, zebra (chiefly Grevy's here) were plentiful ; of one 

 (a mare) which I shot for meat on our second day, I wrote : 

 " A lovely creature, very fat, and as sleek as a well-groomed 

 and well-fed, stabled pony." This part is called " Ongata 

 Ndamez " ^ by the Ndorobos, that is, " Camel Veldt " ; and 

 farther on, where are high level plains covered with short, 

 sweet grass, they are known as " Ongata Barta " — " Horse 

 pasture." These names are relics of a tribe owning such animals, 

 which formerly frequented the district ; it is now quite un- 

 inhabited. Between the two is a long, waterless stretch, which 

 our old Ndorobo guide made longer by taking us a roundabout 

 course. Considering that he admitted his knowledge of the 

 country to be derived from a raiding expedition in which he 

 had taken part as a young man, which must have been, to 

 judge from his apparent age, from forty to fifty years ago, it 

 was not surprising that he should get a little out of his reckon- 

 ing in the night, especially as his eyesight seemed rather 

 defective. From the course we were steering in reference to 

 the position of the moon and my knowledge of the bearing of 

 Mount Nyiro, I suspected some error in the navigation. Un- 

 fortunately, our pilot, like natives in general, took no account 

 of the points of the compass ; and, knowing the winding routes 

 they adopt for various reasons (often sufficient ones), I refrained 

 from speaking to the man at the wheel — for I had learnt b\' 

 experience that to interfere may cause trouble. On discovering 

 his mistake, the old idiot smilingly explained that he had been 

 steering for the wrong hill, with as much unconcern as he had 

 shown in starting from the last camp without any warning to 

 us that it was a far cry to the next water. I found out now that 

 the information I had been given as to the distances on this route, 

 by the traveller I had met, were very misleading, and it proved, 

 in fact, that he had not himself reached this country at all. 



' This is a Masai or Ndorobo word, signifying open countr)', and is pronounced as 

 spelt here. " Angata," as it is often written, is wrong, being the coriupt Swahiii 

 pronunciation. 



