288 



TO KEXIA 



coast from Kavirondo. 1 Moreover the Masai had shaken their 

 heads when we spoke of our intentions, so that there seemed 

 reasons enough for ns to change our minds about going to 

 Kenia by way of Kikuyu. 



It is the custom at Ngongo Bagas to protect the camp 

 with a strong palisade some 10 to 12 feet high, instead of the 

 usual boma or bush-fence, not because of any special danger 

 here, but of the scarcity of firewood. It is no light matter 

 to put up such a palisade in a short time, and hundreds of 

 strong arms wielding sharp axes are required for the work. 

 We did not finish ours for a couple of days, although we had 

 the remains of an old enclosure to help us. This usually silent 

 and deserted corner of the world now presented a truly lively 

 scene, some of the men cutting down trees in the neighbouring 

 woods, whilst others dragged the trunks to the camp, singing 

 as they came, and the remainder prepared a small circular 

 trench enclosing an area some two hundred paces in diameter, 

 in which the stakes were set up close to each other. 



These proceedings were watched by hundreds of loitering 

 Masai, and unfortunately our friendly relations with them were 

 disturbed by an accident on the morning after our arrival. I 

 was lying ill in my tent surrounded by a number of harmless 

 natives, when they were all of a sudden seized with panic and 

 rushed out helter skelter. In ten seconds the camp was com- 

 pletely deserted. The women and children made screaming 

 for home, whilst the men paused at about 500 or 600 paces off 

 and raised the war-cry. The whole scare arose from the 

 following incident : several morans had menaced one of our 

 men who had gone to fetch water unarmed, and Maktubu, who 

 had seen this from the wood where he was felling trees, had 



1 Dr. Fischer died very soon after his arrival in England, so that full details of 

 his adventurous journeys have never been given to the world. He added greatly, 

 however, to our knowledge of the districts surrounding Lake Baringo. — Trans. 



