134 T A VET A AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MERIT 



ourselves besieged by the younger people, who did not quit us 

 till nightfall, and were all eager to shake hands with us, to 

 touch and examine everything. 



Kimemeta told us we might expect a visit the next day 

 from some four or five hundred warriors, and advised us to be 

 off as early as possible, to avoid having to give another big 

 hongo. The Masai are deep sleepers, not fond of the early 

 morning dew, and rarely leave their huts before sunrise ; but 

 unfortunately it was w r et the next morning, so we could not 



hasten our departure 

 as much as we wished. 

 Our march now led 

 us in a south-west- 

 erly direction from 

 the Engilata river, 

 across a plain sparsely 

 covered with grass, 

 and here and there 

 quite bare. We met 

 no natives either, and 

 could only see their 

 horns of the gnu- antelope. herds on the banks 



of the Dariama river, 

 in the distance looking like bright spots amongst the dark- 

 green foliage. To make up for this there were quantities of big 

 game, chiefly gnu-antelopes and zebras, on the steppe. The 

 former are greyish-black animals, more like oxen than ante- 

 lopes in general form, looking from a distance very like 

 buffaloes, especially as their horns greatly resemble those of 

 the latter ; but the mistake is soon perceived when they 

 dash off at one's approach, with long leaps in the air like 

 young foals. Equally beautiful are the zebras, especially when, 

 alarmed, they stamp about here and there, yelping like so many 



