138 ALONG LAKE RUDOLF 



one string of blue ukuta beads, one string of mboro beads, 

 and ten strings of small Masai beads, value from thirty 

 to forty kreuzers. A tusk such as this would fetch 1,300 gulden 

 in Zanzibar.^ The articles of barter most in request here were 

 brass wire and ukuta beads, but we had so little of either that 

 we should not have been able to manage with them only, 

 Stufis were never asked for at all. 



Alia : Sunday, March 25. — In the morning some thirty 

 Elmolo, male and female, came into camp, and we became 

 better acquainted with these people. They are connected with 

 the Eeshiat or Eissiat living at the northern end of the lake, 

 who are certainly of the Gallas stock. The men were all well 

 grown and muscular, and looked well fed. Their type of physi- 

 ognomy differed considerably ; with some it was of the negroid, 

 with others of the Semitic cast, and it would appear that 

 the latter modification was the result of the intermixture of 

 Eeshiat of pure descent with Burkeneji. The chief peculiarity 

 with the men is a pointed chin with a scanty beard, com- 

 bined, however, with broad jaws. The nose is not always 

 as broad and flat as that of a negro, and the complexion is as a 

 rule darker than that of the Masai. The men are circumcised 

 in the Mahomedan manner. The hair is dressed in various 

 fashions, either dragged up into a short thin tuft which is 

 thickly smeared with red fat, or combed back flat, and, with 

 the help of some greasy green or violet coloured clay, moulded 

 into quite an artistic-looking chignon. The latter style is 

 peculiar to young men, and is sometimes finished off with two 

 short ostrich feathers. When touched, this chio^non will be 



^ The Swahili word for the tnsk of a female is galascha, and a large tusk of a male is 

 hori, whilst a middle-sized one is vibori. The tusks of the female are far more highly 

 prized than those of the male elephant, as they consist of soft and more malleable 

 material, suitable for making the most expensive articles, such as billiard balls. A 

 frassilah, or about twenty-eight and a half ]30unds of female ivory, fetches, according 

 to the size of the tusks, from 110 to 140 dollars. 



