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NA TURE 



[Feb. 12, i ; 



are notorious cattle-lifters and great breeders, but their 

 herds were dying by thousands of some mysterious 

 disease, and it was only when at its last gasp that an 

 animal could be bought, its carcase when cut up 

 being loathsome. It wa no wonder, then, that Mr. 

 Thomson suffered dreadfully from dysentery, and a 

 less determined man might have succumbed entirely. 

 Yet Mr. Thomson cannot sufficiently express his admira- 

 tion for a people whom he regards as the Apollos of 

 Africa. Their physique, their language, their habits, 

 their bearing, differ entirely from those of any other 

 African race, though there seems little doubt that they 

 are, by language at least, allied to the Gallas. Indeed, 

 their own traditions point to a Galla origin ; they seem to 

 be intruders into the region between Kilimanjaro and 

 Kenia, which is now entirely dominated by them. They 

 are certainly not a pure race, and scattered among them 

 are remnants of a different people, who are the pariahs of 

 the country. Their intelligence is above that of the 

 average African, as is indicated by the dimensions of 

 their skulls as well as by their organisation and general 

 bearing. Their social habits are much what we find among 

 other races of their stage of civilisation: "morality' 



'.Hi Cokii. 



begins only after marriage. All the unmarried men belong 

 to the warrior class, and are permitted to use none other 

 than animal food. Their spears, of native make, are of 

 enormous dimensions, and their war costume is elabo- 

 rately ludicrous. One strange custom is that spitting is 

 the greatest mark of distinction you can bestow upon a 

 Masai, and Mr. Thomson was often sorely exercised when 

 he desired to be particularly conciliating and gracious in 

 his intentions. This custom is, however, not without 

 parallel : the natives of part of the southern coast of New- 

 Guinea, indeed, improve upon it by squirting mouthfuls 

 of water on those to whom they wish to give a specially 

 friendly welcome. What is the particular significance 

 of the custom perhaps those who have investigated the 

 subject of salutations may be able to explain. 



As to the country itself through which Mr. Thomson 

 passed, while part of it is desert, simply from want of 

 water, much of it is rich in grass and forest, abundantly 

 watered, and with a wealth of varied scenery scarcely sur- 

 passed in some of the favourite tourist resorts of Europe. 

 Besides the two prominent mountain summits, there are 

 several ranges of varying height, one of the loftiest and 

 most attractive being to the south-west of Mount Kenia, 

 and to which Mr. Thomson loyally gave the name of 



Lord Aberdare. " The Masai country," Mr. Thomson 

 tells us, " is very markedly divided into two quite distinct 

 regions, the southerly or lower desert area, and the 

 northerly or plateau region. The southerly is compara- 

 tively low in altitude, that is to say, from 3000 to nearly 4000 

 feet. It is sterile and unproductive in the extreme. This 

 is owing, not to a barren soil, but to the scantiness of the 

 rainfall, which for about three months in the year barely 

 gives sufficient sustenance to scattered tufts of grass. The 

 acacia and mimosa have almost sole possession of those 

 dreary plains, except near the base of some isolated moun- 

 tain or other highland, where small rivulets trickle down, 

 to be speedily absorbed in the arid sands. No river 

 traverses this region, and many parts are covered with 

 incrustations of natron, left by the evaporation of salt- 

 charged springs. We have seen something of this lower 

 region in the flat reach of Njiri,and the forbidding desert 

 of Dogilani. It is not, however, to be conceived as a 

 monotonous level. Far from it. The colossal Kilimanjaro 

 and the conical Mount Meru belong to it. The hills of 

 Gelei and the Guaso N'Ebor circle round in the form "I an 

 amphitheatre, to meet the metamorphic masses of Ndap- 

 dukand Donyo Erok. Further to the west and north are 

 the volcanic masses of Donyo Engai, Donyo la Nyuki, 

 and Donyo Logonot, with the hills of Nguru-ma-ni. 

 Except in the immediate vicinity of the higher moun- 

 tains, such as Mount Meru and Donyo Engai, the country 

 is to a large extent uninhabited. To summarise this tract 

 we may say that it is triangul ir in general shape, the apex 

 towards the north reaching to within thirty miles of the 

 I equator, and extending beyond to Baringo as a species of 

 trough or deep irregular cutting. The Masai are only to 

 I be found at all seasons about such favourable situations 

 I as the base of Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru, Ndapduk, Gelei, 

 ! Kisongo, to the west of Meru, Donyo Engai, and alon 

 the edge of the plain at the bases of the bordering high- 

 lauds Mau and Kapte. The country is sufficiently cha- 

 racterised when the fact is stated that it is a region of later 

 volcanic activity, which in a very recent geological period 

 has produced the cones and craters already referred to. 

 These results of volcanic energy may, to some extent, be 

 accounted for— though the statement may seem to savour 

 of reasoning in a circle — by the lower region as an area 

 of depression having subsided or sunk from the higher 

 level of the flanking table-lands. The northerly or higher 

 plateau region of Masai Land may be described as rising 

 from an elevation of nearly 5000 feet on either side, and 

 culminating in the centre at an elevation of little short of 

 9000 feet — although through this very line of highest 

 elevation runs from the Dogilani plain the remarkable 

 meridional trough which incloses the charming chain of 

 isolated lakes, Naivasha, Elmeteita, Nakuro,and Baringo ; 

 and which, at the last-named place, begins to widen out 

 till it assumes the characteristics of the southerly plain of 

 Masai Land. On the eastern half of this divided plateau 

 rises, as we have seen, the snow-clad peak of Kenia — 

 and the picturesque range of the Aberdare Mountains, 

 which runs almost parallel with the central line of de- 

 pression. A more charming region is probably not to be 

 found in all Africa, probably not even in Abyssinia. 

 Though lying at a general elevation of 6000 feet it is not 

 mountainous, but extends out in billowy, swelling reaches, 

 and is characterised by everything that makes a pleasing 

 landscape. Here are dense patches of flowering shrubs ; 

 there noble forests. Now you traverse a park-like country 

 enlivened by groups of game ; anon, great herds of cattle, 

 or flocks of sheep and goats are seen wandering knee- 

 deep in the splendid pasture. There is little in the aspect 

 of the country to suggest the popular idea of the tropics. 

 The eye rests upon coniferous trees, forming pine-like 

 woods, and you can gather sprigs of heath, sweet scented 

 clover, anemone, and other familiar forms. In vain you 

 look for the graceful palm — ever present in the mental 

 pictures of the untravelled traveller. The country is a 



