24 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



my men, and brought forward my askari to be 

 ready in case they were disposed to attack, but 

 they took very little notice of us, and when the 

 Lygonani appeared, I had the pleasure of shaking 

 hands with him and some hundred stalwart young 

 fellows who had attempted to heighten the fero- 

 city of their appearance by enclosing their faces 

 in a bush of feathers, often three feet across, and 

 plastering their bodies with crimson or white clay. 

 They were probably on their way to attack the 

 more industrious, agricultural peoples, Wakikuyu 

 or Wakamba, but we parted the best of friends. 



At this point, to get down into the rift valley, 

 a small precipice of rough dolerite has to be 

 descended ; and this being cleared, we found the 

 land covered with herds of cattle and goats. We 

 passed several of the little square camps of the 

 married people, and until we arrived at our camp 

 on the first Kidong river, our ears never rested 

 from the strains of the various troops of donkeys. 



At this camp the country had a most curious 

 appearance. It was eaten down to the ground. 

 Scarcely a blade of grass was an inch long. It is 

 owing to the habit, very unusual with a pastoral 

 people, of camping in large numbers, that the 

 Masai are unable to remain more than a few days 

 in one spot, and also that the cattle disease has 

 been so deadly amongst these people, while the 

 same fact is probably responsible for the formation 

 of these bands of Elmoran, and for a morality 



