282 THROUGH MASAILAND TO THE BORDERS OF KIKUYU 



the dying man ; a terrible task for me, as I had within me the 

 seeds of the same disease which might bring me to a similar 

 end. The poor fellow died during the march. 



As we approached the Doenye Lamuyo the scenery im- 

 proved. On the eastern side rise several insignificant streams 

 and a rivulet called the Morio, all of which flow eastward, 

 and, meeting those from Kikuyu, form the Kaya, which is in 

 reality the upper portion of the Sabaki, which flows into the 

 Indian Ocean near Melinda. On the south grows one kind of 

 tree only, the poisonous morio (Acocanthera Schimperi, Hochst. 

 Bth. and Hook), which Hidelbrandt met with near Taveta and 

 on the Arl mountains in northern Somaliland. The effect of a 

 landscape in which the morio grows is very weird and quaint, 

 the squat, bulky trees, with bare stems only some five to eight 

 feet high, surmounted by a massive cone-shaped crown of leaves, 

 standing out as if carved in wood against the yellow steppe. 

 They tolerate no other tree or plant near them, but congregate 

 in little groups ; the variety we saw here were all about the 

 same height, and though the trunks looked as if they were 

 single, they really consisted of several thin stems twisted to- 

 gether like those of a vine. The leaves and flowers are both 

 small ; the latter are white or of a pink colour, resembling those 

 of the elder, and they give forth a delightful aromatic scent. 

 The Wakikuyu and Wandorobbo, as well as the people of 

 Somaliland, use the distilled sap of the roots to poison their 

 arrows. Natives and caravan-men alike consider the whole 

 tree deadly poison and will not even smell the flowers. Our 

 experience, however, was that the dangerous qualities of the 

 morio are much exaggerated, for the scent is certainly perfectly 

 harmless. 



Only a few moruu and a couple of Masai medicine-men, 

 the latter the first we had seen, came to the camp. These 

 leibonswere quite young, and evidently of no very great repute. 



