398 



ACROSS LEIKIPIA 



think to belong to a separate tribe. My own opinion is that 

 the word elkonono means simply smith or handicraftsman. 

 There are very few elkonono in Masailand, which accounts for 

 the difficulty of getting spears there. These smiths are only 

 met with in very large kraals and densely populated districts ; 

 indeed, in all our travels we only saw the one mentioned 

 above, and, according to Lekibes, there are but two in the whole 

 of Leikipia. Of course it is impossible to judge of characteristics 

 of race if you have only seen one individual, but our one man 

 had not ' crooked legs,' nor did he look 6 degraded ' or £ half 

 starved,' and even Mpujui could not have distinguished him 

 <from any other Masai moruo. 



The man who was to have been my guide was far more 

 remarkable looking. Small and thin, he reminded me of the 

 Bushmen type, and when I got to know him better the resem- 

 blance struck me yet more. His skin was of a dark, dirty 

 yellow, and his hair not so frizzy as that of most negroes. His 

 name was Kandile, and according to his own account he 

 belonged to the Mumonyott tribe, which, some ten years ago, 

 had dwelt near Lake Lorian, and bred cattle, but had been 

 decimated in various wars, and the little remnant were now 

 dispersed amongst the Masai and other people of Leikipia. 

 Like the former rulers of that district, the Leukops, they are 

 npw held in but little esteem. 



At noon thirty-five of the men belonging to Mpujui's 

 caravan came and pitched their tents quite close to our camp. 

 They too were in search of ivory, and their arrival must have 

 been anything but pleasant to Jumbe Kimemeta, but did not 

 affect the rest of us at all. The great trading caravans from 

 Mombasa generally keep together till they reach Lakes JSTaivasha 

 or Baringo, when scouring parties are sent in every direction, the 

 150 or 300 men for Leikipia branching off at Lake Naivasha, 

 and forming a head-quarters camp somewhere on the eastern 



