MASAI SONGS AND DANCES 



255 



and not a drop of water to be had for our weary and thirsty 

 men, so that the camp was soon wrapped in silence. 



At the first gleam of dawn the next morning we were off 

 again, reaching in less than an hour and a half a shallow grass- 

 grown channel, the end of the swampy mouth of the Ngare na 

 lalla, or Ngare Manga (both names meaning broad water), a 

 short, sluggish stream flowing from the Doenye Erok. After 

 our men had quenched their thirst with the muddy water, we 

 pressed on, waded across a reed-encumbered arm of the stream, 

 followed its course on the other side for a short distance, and 

 camped. We were now at the foot of the steep hill first 

 mentioned, at a height of about 4,120 feet, in a densely populated 

 portion of the Masai district Matumbato, where we might hope 

 to buy plenty of cattle. We therefore decided to halt here for 

 two whole days, which would also give our overladen donkeys 

 time to recruit their exhausted strength. 



Natives soon appeared in considerable numbers, and we 

 found we could get cattle, but not donkeys. The business of 

 purchasing was given over to Jumbe Kimemeta and Qualla, 

 which left us free to hunt. The moran and their inseparable 

 dittos or sweethearts stood about our tents at a respectful 

 distance, made no attempt to beg, and gave us no trouble at 

 all. They watched us at our work of taking astronomical 

 observations, writing up our journals, and so on, and when they 

 got tired of that they went outside the camp and amused 

 themselves with singing and dancing. 



The Masai have a good many songs suitable for different 

 occasions, and though they are not a bit more melodious than 

 those of other coloured races, they are quite unlike them. 

 Some dances are performed by warriors only, others by them 

 and the dittos together. The natives here allowed me to 

 photograph them without taking any notice of what I was 

 doing. 



